^^^^jpfiilliiiiip^^^^^^^

V

FrottUtjHtes.

Heariiig liie air cut by their verdant plumes,
'J"he Herjwnt fled; and, to their stations, back
The angels up retum'd with equal flight.

Ganto VIII.. lines 105-107.

35

A lady young and beautiful, I dream'd,,

Was passing o'er a lea; and, as she came,

Methought I saw her ever and anon

Bending to cull the flowers.

Canto XXVI L . line* 97-100.

P U RG ATORY and P AR ADISE

TRANSLATED BY

THE REV. HENRY FRANCIS GARY, M.A.

FROM THE ORIGINAL OF

Dante Alighieri

AKD ILLUSTRATED WITH THE DESIGNS OF

M. GUSTAVE DORl:

'^cm ^diti0it

With Critical and Explanatory Notes

NEW YOEK :
P. F. COLLIER, PUBLISHER,

C ONTENTS.

PURGATORY.

CANTO I.

FAOB

The Poet describes tlie delight ho experienced at issuing a little before dawn from the infernal regions,
into tlio pure air tliat surrounds the isle of Purgatory; and then relates how, turning to the right,
he beheld four stars never seen before but by our first parents, and met on his left the sliade of
Cato of Utica, who, having warned him and Virgil what is needful to be done before they proceed
on their way through Purgatory, disappears; and the two Poets go towards the shore, where Virgil
cleanses Dante's face with the dew, and girds him with a reed as Cato had commanded ... 1

CANTO II.

They behold a vessel under conduct of an angel, coming over the waves with spirits to Purgatory, among
whom, when the passengers have landed, Dante recognises his friend Casella; but, while they are
entertained by him with a song, they hear Cato exclaiming against their negligent loitering, and
at that rebuke hasten forward to the mountain .......... 7

CANTO III.

Our Poet, perceiving no shadow except that cast by his own body, is fearful that Virgil has deserted
him; but is freed from that error, and both arrive together at the foot of the momikiin. On
finding it too steep to climb, they inquire the way from a troop of sfjirits that are coming towards
them, and are by them shown which is tiie easiest ascent. Manfredi, King of Naples, who is one
of these spirits, bids Dante inform his daughter Costanza, Queen of Arragon, of the manner in
which he had died 12

CANTO IV.

Dante and Virgil ascend the mountain of Purgatory, by a steep and narrow path pent in on each side
by rock, till they reach a part of it that opens into a ledge or cornice. There seating themselves,
and turning to the east, Dante wonders at seeing the sun on their left, the cause of which is
explained to him by Virgil; and while they continue their discourse, a voice addresses them, at
which they turn, and find several spirits behind the rock, and amongst the rest one named
Belacqua, who had been known to our Poet on earth, and who tells that he is doomed to linger
there on account of his having delayed his repentance to the last 18

CANTO V.

They meet with others, who had deferred their repentance till they were overtaken by a violent death,
when sufficient space being allowed them, they were then saved ; and amongst these Giacopo del
Cassero, Buonconte da Montefeltro, and Pia, a lady of Sienna 24

CANTO VI.

Many besides, who are in like case with those spoken of in the last Canto, beseech our Poet to obtain
for them the prayers of their friends, when he shall be returned to this world. This moves him
to express a doubt to liis guide, how the dead can be profited by the prayers of the living; for
the solution of which doubt he is referred to Beatrice. Afterwards he meets with Sordello, the
Mantuan, whose affection, shown to Virgil, his countryman, leads Dante to break forth into an
invective against the unnatural divisions with which Italy, and more especially Florence, was
distracted . . . . . . . • • • . • • • • ...* .29

iii

IV CONTENTS.

CANTO VII.

PAUE

The approach of night hindering further ascent, Sordello conducts our Poet apart to an eminence, from
whence they behold a pleasant recess, in form of a flowery valley, scooped out of the mountain;
where are many famous spirits, and among them the Emperor llodolph, Ottocar, King of Bohemia,
Philip III. of France, Henry of Navarre, Peter III. of Arragon, Charles I. of Naples, Henry III.
of England, and William, Marquis of Montferrat 3G

CANTO VIII.

Two angels, with flaming swords broken at the points, descend to keep watch over the valley, into which
Virgil and Dante entering by desire of Sordello, our Poet meets with joy the spirit of Nino, the
judge of Galluni, one who was well known to him. Meantime three exceedingly bright stars
appear near the pole, and a serpent creeps subtly into the valley, but flees at hearing the ajiproach
of those angelic guards. Lastly, Conrad Malaspina predicts to our Poet his future banishment . 43

CANTO IX.

Dante is carried np the mountain, asleep and dreaming, by Lucia; and, on wakening, finds himself,
two liours after sunrise, with Virgil, near the gate of Purgatory, through which they are admitted
by the angel deputed by St. Peter to keep it 48

CANTO X.

Being admitted at the gate of Purgatory, our Poets ascend a winding path up the rock till they reach
an open and level space that extends each way round the mountain. On the side that rises, and
which is of white marble, are seen artfully engraven many stories of humility, which whilst they
are contemplating, there approach the souls of those who expiate the sin of pride, and who are
bent down beneath the weight of heavy stones .......... 54

CANTO XI.

After a prayer uttered by the spirite who were spoken of in the last Canto, Virgil inquires the way
upwards, and is answered by one, who declares himself to have been Omberto, son of the Count
of Santafiore. Next our Poet distinguishes Oderigi, the illuminator, who discourses on the vanity
of worldly fame, and points out to him the soul of Provenzano Salvani 60

CANTO XIL

Dante being desired by Virgil to look down on the g^-ound which they are treading, observes that it
is wrought over with imagery exhibiting various instances of pride recorded in history and fable.
They leave the first cornice, and are ushered to the next by an angel who points out the way . . 67

CANTO XIIL

They gain the second cornice, where the sin of envy is purged; and having proceeded a little to the
right, they hear voices uttered by invisible spirits recounting famous examples of charity, and next
behold the sliades, or souls, of the envious clad in sackcloth, and having their eyes sewed up with
an iron thread. Amongst these Dante finds Sapia, a Siennese lady, from whom he learns the cause
of her being there 72

CANTO XIV.

Our Poet on tliis second cornice finds also the souls of Guido del Duca of Brettinoro, and Einieri da
Calboli of Uomagna; the latter of whom, hearing that he comes from the banks of the Arno,
inveighs against the degeneracy of all those who dwell in the cities visited by that stream; and the
former, in like manner, against the inhabitants of Romagna. On leaving these, our Poets heai
voices recording noted instances of envy ........... 73

CANTO XV.

An angel invites them to ascend the next steep. On their way Dante suggests certain doubts, which
are resolved by Virgil; and, when, they reach the third cornice, where the sin of anger is purged,
our Poet, in a kind of waking dream, beholds remarkable instances of patience; and soon after they
arc enveloped in a dense fog 85

CANTO XVI.

Ab they proceed through the mist, they hear the voices of spirits praying. Marco Lombardo, one of
these, points out to Dante the error of such as impute our actions to necessity; explains to him
that man is endued with free will; and shows that much of human depravity results from the
undue mixture of spiritual and temporal authority in rulers ....... 90

CONTENTS.

CANTO XVII.

FAOE

The Poet issues from that thick vapour; and soon after his fancy represents to liim in lively portraiture
some noted examples of anger. Tliis imagination is dissipated by the appearance of an angel, who
marslial;3 them onward to the fourth cornice, on whicli the siu of gloominess or indillereiico is
purged; and hero Virgil shows him that this vice proceeds from a defect of love, aiul that all love
can be only of two sorts, either natural, or of the soul; of which sorts- the former is always riglit,
but the latter may err either in respect of object or of degree ! ';

CANTO XVIII.

Virgil discourses further concerning the nature of love. Then a multitude of spirits rush by; two of
wliom, in van of the rest, record instances of zeal aiul fervent alTection, and another, who was abbot
of San Zeno in Verona, declares himself to Virgil and Dante; aiul lastly follow other spirits, shouting
forth memorable examples of the sin for which they suifer. The I'oet, pursuing hie meditations,
falls into a dreamy slumber 102

CANTO XIX.

The Poet, after describing his dream, relates how, at the summoning of an angel, he ascends with Virgil

to the fifth cornice, where the sin of avarice is cleansed, and where he finds Po|K! Adrian V. . . 108

CANTO XX.

Among those on the fifth cornice, Hugh Capet records illustrious examples of voluntary poverty and
bounty; then tells who himself is, and speaks of his descendants on the French throne; and, lastly,
adds some noted instances of avarice. When he has ended, the mountain shakes, and all the
spirits sing "Glory to God" 114

CANTO XXI.

The two Poets are overtaken by the spirit of Statins, who, being cleansed, is on his way to Paradise, and

who explains the cause of the mountain shaking, and of the hymn; his joy at beholding Virgil . 121

CANTO XXII.

Dante, Virgil, and Statins mount to the sixth cornice, where the sin of gluttony is cleansed, the two
Latin Poets discoursing by the way. Turning to the right, they find a tree hung with sweet-
smelling fniit, and watered by a shower that issues from the rock. Voices ai'e heard to proceed
from among the leaves, recording examples of temperance 126

CANTO XXIII.

They are overtaken by the spirit of Forese, who had been a friend of our Poet's on earth, and who now

inveighs bitterly against the immodest dress of their countrywomen at Florence .... 133

CANTO XXIV.

Forese points out several others by name who are here, like himself, purifying themselves from the vice
of gluttonv; and amongst the rest, Buonaggiunta of Lucca, with whom our Poet converses. Forese
then predicts the violent end of Dante's political enemy, Corso Donati; and when he has quitted
them, the Poet, in company with Statins and Virgil, arrives at another tree, from whence issue
voices that record ancient examples of gluttony; and proceeding forwards, they are directed by an
angel which way to ascend to the next cornice of tlio mountain 138

CANTO XXV.

Vir<ril and Statins resolve some doubts that have arisen in the mind of Dante from wliat he had just
"seen. Tliey all arrive on the seventh and last cornice, where the sin of incontinence is purged in
fire;' and the spirits of those suffering therein are heard to record illustrious instances of chastity . 145

CANTO XXVI.

The ST)irits wonder at seeing the shadow cast by the body of Dante on the flame as he passes it. This
moves one of them to address him. It proves to be Guido Guniicdli, the Italian poet, who pomts
out to him the spirit of Arnault Daniel, the Proven9al, with whom he also speaks . . .150

VI CONTENTS.

CANTO XXVII.

PAQB

An angel sends them forward through the fire to tlie last ascent, which leads to the terrestrial Paradise,
situated ou the summit of the mountain. They have not proceeded many steps on their way
upward, when the fall of night hindei-s them from going further; and our Poet, who lias lain down
with \'irgil and Statius to rest, beholds in a dream two females, figuring the active and contem-
plative life. With the return of morning, they reach the height; and hero Virgil gives Dante full
liberty to use his own pleasure and judgment in the choice of his way, till he shall meet with
Beatrice 157

CANTO XXVIII.

Dante wanders through the forest of the terrestrial Paradise, till he is stopped by a stream, on the other
side of which he beholds a fair lady, culling flowers. He speaks to her; and she, in reply, explains
to him certain things touching the nature of that place, and tells that tlie water, which Hows
between them, is here called Lethe, and in another place has the name of Ennoe . , . . ] C2

CANTO XXIX,

The lady, who in a following canto is called JIatilda, moves along the side of the stream in a contrary
direction to the current, and Dante keeps equal pace with her on the opposite bank. A marvellous
sight, preceded by music, appears in view 1G8

CANTO XXX.
Beatrice descends from heaven, and rebukes the poet 175

CANTO XXXI.

Beatrice continues her reprehension of Dante, who confesses his error, and falls to the ground. Coming
to himself again, he is by Matilda drawn through the waters of Lethe, and presented first to the
four virgins who figure the cardinal virtues; these in their turn lead him to the Gryphon, a symbol
of our Saviour; and the three virgins representing the evangelical virtues intercede for him with
Beatrice, that she would display to him her second beauty 181

CANTO XXXIL

Dante is warned not to gaze too fixedly on Beatrice. The procession moves on, accompanied by Matilda,

Statius, and Dante, tiU they reach an exceeding lofty tree, where divers strange chances befall . 187

CANTO XXXIII.

After a hymn sung, Beatrice leaves the tree, and takes with her the seven virgins, Matilda, Statius and
Dante. She then darkly predicts to our Poets some future events. Lastly, the whole band arrive
at the fountain, from whence the two streams, Lethe and Eunoe, separating, flow different ways;
and Matilda, at the desire of Beatrice, causes our Poet to drink of the latter stream . . .193

PARADISE.

CANTO L

The Poet ascends with Beatrice towards the first heaven, and is by her resolved of certain doubts which

arise in his mind , 201

CANTO IL

Dante and his celestial guide enter the moon. The cause of the spots or shadows which appear in that

body is explained to liim 808

CANTO in.

In the moon Dante meets with Piccarda, the sister of Forese, who tells him that this planet is allotted
to those who, after having made profession of chastity and a religions life, had been compelled to
violate their vows; and she then points out to him the spirit of the Empress Costanza . . .214

CONTENTS. Vii

CANTO IV.

PAOIC

Wliile they still continue in the moon, Beatrice removes certain doubts which Dante had conceived
respecting the place assigned to the blessed, and respecting the will absolute or conditional. He
inquires whether it is possible to make satisfaction for a vow broken 3)0

CANTO V.

The question proposed in the last canto is answered. i:)anto ascends with Beatrice to tlic planet
Mercury, which is the second heaven; and here he finds a multitude of spirits, one of whom olTei-s
to satisfy him of anything ho may desire to know from them 225

CANTO VI.

The spirit who offered to satisfy the inquiries of Dante, declares himself to be the Emperor Justinian;
and after speaking of his own actions, recounts the victories, before him, obtained under the Roman
Eagle, lie then informs our Foet that the soul of Komeo the pilgrim is in the same star . . 3:?0

CANTO VII.

In consequence of what had been said by Justinian, who together with the other spirits have now
disappeared, some doubts arise in the mind of Dante respecting the human redemption. These
difficulties are fully explained by Beatrice 237

CANTO VIII.

The Poet ascends with Beatrice to the third heaven, which is the planet Venus; and here finds the soul
of Charles Martel, King of Hungary, who had been Dante's friend on earth, and who now, after
speaking of the realms to which he was heir, unfolds the cause why children differ in disposition
from their parents . . - . . . . . " 243

CANTO IX.

Tli3 next spirit who converses with our Poet in the planet Venus, is the amorous Cunizza. To her
succeeds Folco, or Folques, the Provencal bard, who declares that the soul of Eahab the harlot is
there also; and then, blaming the Pope for his neglect of the Holy Land, prognosticates some
reverse to the Papal power 250

CANTO X.

Their next ascent carries them into the sun, which is the fourth heaven. Here they are encompassed
with a wreath of blessed spirits, twelve in number. Thomas Aquinas, who is one of these, declares
the names and endowments of the rest 257

CANTO XI.

Thomas Aquinas enters at large into the life and character of St. Francis; and then solves one of two
difficulties, which he perceives to have risen in Dante's mind from what he had heard in the last
canto . . . 264

CANTO XII.

A second circle of glorified souls encompasses the first. Buenaventura, who is one of them, celebrates
the praises of Saint Dominic, and informs Dante who the other eleven are that are in this second
circle or garland 269

CANTO XIII.

Thomas Aquinas resumes his speech. He solves the other of those doubts which he discerned in the
mind of Dante, and warns him earnestly against assenting to any proposition without having duly
examined it 276

CANTO XIV.

Solomon, who is one in the spirits of the inner circle, declares what the appearance of the blest will be
after the resurrection of the body. Beatrice and Dante are translated into the fifth lieaven, which
is that of Mars, and here behold the souls of those who had died fighting for the true faith, ranged
in the sign of a cross, athwart which the spirits move to the sound of a melodious hymn . . 2.S'J

CANTO XV.

The spirit of Cacciaguida, our Poet's ancestor, glides rapidly to the foot of the cross, tells who he is, and

speaks of the simplicity of the Florentines in his day, since then much corrupted . . . 287

VIll CONTENTS.

CANTO XVI.

PAGE

Cacciaguida relates the time of his birth, and, describing the extent of Florence when he lived there, re-
counts the names of the chief families wiio then inhabited it. Its degeneracy, and subsequent dis-
grace, he attributes to the introduction of families from the neighbouring country and villages, and
to their mixture with the primitive citizens 293

CANTO XVII.

Cacciaguida predicts to our Poet his exile and the calamities he had to suffer; and, lastly, exhorts him

to write the present poem ... ... ... .... 300

C\NTO XVIII.

Dante sees the souls of many renowned wari-iors and crusaders in the planet Mars, and then ascends with
Beatrice to Jupiter, the sixtli heaven, in which he finds the souls of those who had administered
justice rightly in tlie world, so disposed, as to form the figure of an ciigle. The canto concludes
with an invective against the avarice of the clergy, and especially of the Pope .... 306

CANTO XIX.

The eagle speaks as with one voice proceeding from a multitude of spirits that compose it, av.d declares
the cause for whicli it is exalted to that state of glory. It then solves a doubt which our Poet had
entertained respecting the possibility of salvation without belief in Christ; exposes the iiiefl^icacv of
a mere profession of such belief; and prophesies the evil appearance that many Christian potentates
will make at the day of judgment 311

CANTO XX.

Tlie eagle celebrates the praise of certain kings, whose glorified spirits form the eye of tlie bird. In the
pupil is David, and in the circle round it, Trajan, Hezekiah, Constantino, William II. of Sicily, and
Kipheus. It explains to our Poet how the souls of those whom he supposed to have had no means
of believing in Christ, came to be in heaven; and concludes with an admonition against presuming
to fathom the counsels of God ............ 317

CANTO XXI.

Dante .ascends with Beatrice to the seventh heaven, which is the planet Saturn; wherein is placed a lad-
der so lofty, that the top of it is out of his sight. Here are the souls of those who had passed their
life in holy retirement and contemplation. Piero Damiano comes near them, and answers questions
put to him by Dante; then declares who he was on earth, and ends by declaiming against the luxury
of pastors and prelates in those times ........... 323

CANTO XXII.

He beholds many other spirits of the devout and contemplative; and amongst these is addressed by St.
Benedict, who, after disclosing his own name and the names of certain of his companions in bliss,
replies to the request made by our Poet that he might look on the form of the saint without that
covering of splendour which then invested it; and then proceeds, lastly, to inveigh against the cor-
ruption of the monks. Next Dante mounts with his heavenly conductress to the eighth heaven, or
that of the fixed stars, which he enters at the constellation of the Twins; and thence looking back,
reviews all the space he has passed between his present station and the earth .... 328

CANTO XXIII.

He sees Christ triumphing with his church. The Saviour ascends, followed by his virgin Mother. The

others remain with St. Peter 334

CANTO XXIV.
St. Peter examines Dante touching Faith, and is contented with his answers 339

CANTO XXV.

St James questions our Poet concerning Hope. Next St. John appears; and, on perceiving that Dante
looks intently on him, informs him that he (St. .John) had left his body resolved into earth, upon
the earth; and that Christ and the Virgin alone had come with their bodies into lieaven . . 346

CANTO XXVI.

St. .John examines our Poet touching Charity. Afterwards Adam tells when he was created, and placed
in the terrestrial Paradise; how long he remained in that state; what was the occasion of his fall;
when he was admitted into heaven; and what language he spake ...... 352

CONTENTS. ix

CANTO XXVII.

St. Peter bitterly rebukes the covetousnoss of bis successors in the apostolic see, while all the heavenly
host sympathise in his indignation: they then vanish upwards. IJeatrice bids IJantc again ciist Ins
view below. Afterwards they are borne into the ninth heaven, of which she shows liini the nature
and properties; blaming the perverseness of man, who places his will on low and perisluible things . S.'iH

CANTO XXVIII.

Still in the ninth heaven, our Poet is permitted to behold the divine essence; and then sees, in three
hierarchies, the nine choirs of angels. Beatrice clears some difficulties whicii occur to him on lliis
occasion .••••■.......... 3(54

CANTO XXIX.

Beatrice beholds in the mirror of divine truth, some doubts wbicb had entered the mind of Dante. These
she resolves; and th(;n digresses into a vehement reprehension of certain theologians and preachers
in those days, wliose ignorance or avarice induced them to substitute their own inventions for tho
pure word of tho Gospel 369

CANTO XXX.

Dante is taken up v/ith Beatrice into the empyrean; and there having his sight strengthened by her aid,
and by the virtue derived from looking on the river of light, he sees the triumph of the angels and
of the souls of tho blessed . . . ... . . . . . . . d'H

CANTO XXXI.

The Poet expatiates further on the glorious vision described in the last Canto. On looking round for
Beatrice, he finds that she has left him, and that an old man is at his side. This proves to be St.
Bernard, who shows him that Beatrice has returned to lier throne, and then points out to him the
blessedness of the Virgin Mother ... . . ... .... 381

CANTO XXXII.

St. Bernard shov\'s him, on their several thrones, the other blessed souls, both of the Old and New Tes-
tament; explains to him that their places are assigned them by grace, and not according to merit;
and lastly, tells him that if he would obtain ])ower to descry what remained of the heavenly vision,
he must unite with him in supplication to Mary ......... 386

CANTO XXXIII.

St. Bernard supplicates the Virgin Mary that Dante may have grace given him to contemplate the
brightness of the divine Majesty, wliieh is accordingly granted; and Dante then himself jiniys to
God for ability to show forth some part of the celestial glory in his writings. Lastly, he is admitted
to a glimpse of the great mystery; the Trinity, and the union of man with God . • , 391

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Flatc

I. The radiant planet, tliat to love invites . . .

II. My guide, then laying hold on me, by words

III. Then when he knew the pilot . . . . .

IV. The heavenly steersman at the prow was seen
V. xVnd while, with looks directed to the ground

VI. While underneath, the ground .....

VII. And there were some, wlio in the shady place

VIII. "Many," exclaim'd the bard, "are these, who throng aroun

IX. From my breast loosening the cross . . . _ .

X. " I once was Pia. Sienna gave me life "...

XI. " Through every orb of that sad region "...

XII. "Salve Regina," on the grass and flowers, here chanting

XIII. Hearing the air cut by their verdant plumes

XIV. Now the fair consort of Tithonus old

XV. There both, I thought, the eagle and myself did burn

XVI. In visage such, as past my power to bear

XVII. The wretch appear'd amid all these to say

XVIII. AVitli equal pace, as oxen in the j'oke

XIX. fond Arachne ! thee I also saw

XX. E'on thus the blind and poor

XXI. "Who then, amongst us here aloft, hath brought tliee?"

XXII. After that I saw a multitude .....

XXIII. "Now who art thou, that through our smoke dost cleave?"

XXIV. "Long as 'tis lawful for me, shall my steps follow on thine "
XXV. But not long slumber'd

XXVI. "Wliat aileth thee, that still thou look'st to earth ?" .

Canto
I.

Liite
19 .

To face
page

2

I.

49 .

4

II.

2T .

8

II.

42 .

10

III.

54 .

14

IV.

31 .

20

IV.

100 .

22

. V.

42 .

24

V.

123 .

26

V.

131 .

28

. VII.

21 .

36

. VII.

82 .

38

. VIII.

105 Frontispiece

IX.

1 .

48

IX.

29 .

50

IX.

74 .

52

X.

74 .

56

. XII.

1 .

GC

. xu.

39 .

68

. XIII.

55 .

74

. XIII.

129 .

76

XV.

103 .

88

. XVI.

23 .

90

. XVI.

32 ..

92

XVIII.

87 ..

104

XIX.

51 ..

110

Slil

XIV

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

es

Plate

XXYll. "Up," he exclaim'd, "brotlier ! upon thy feet arise" .

XXVIII. With wary steps and slow we pass'd ....

XXIX. "And who are those twain spirits?" ....

XXX. The shadowy forms

XXXI. At length, as undeceived, they went their way

XXXII. Here the rocky precipice

XXXIII. Then from the bosom of the burning mass

XXXIV. And when I saw spirits along the flame proceeding
XXXV. A lady young and beautiful, I dream'd, was passing o'er a Ic

XXXVI. Already had my steps

XXXVII. Beneath a sky so beautiful

XXXVIII. Three nymphs, at the right wheel ....

XXXIX. Thus, in a cloud of flowers

XL. The beauteous dame, her arms expanding, clasp "d my tempi

XLI. At her side, as 't were that none might bear her off

XLII. Were fui'ther space allow'd

XLIII. Such saw I many a face . . . .

XLIV. So drew full more than thousand splendours towards us

XLV. The left bank

XL VI. About us thus ........

XLVII. And I beheld myself .......

XLVIII. Christ beam'd on that cross .....

XLIX. But so was doom'd . . .

L. So, within the lights, the saintly creatures flying, sang

LI. Ye host of heaven, whose glory I survey ! .

LII. I5efoi'e my sight appear'd, with open wings, the beauteous image

LIII. For that all those living lights

LIV. Again mine eyes were fix'd on Beatrice . . .

LV. Down whose steps .......

LVI. Say then, beginning, to what point thy soul aspires

LVn. Then "Glory to the Father, to the Son" .

LVIII. Not unlike to iron in the furnace ....

LIX. In fasliion, as a snow white rose ....

LX. Answering not, mine eyes I raised ....

Canto

Line

To face
page

. XIX.

131 .

. 112

XX.

17 .

. 114

XXI] 1.

47 .

. 134

. XXIV.

4 .

. 138

. XaIV.

112 .

. 142

. XXV.

107 .

. 146

. XXV.

117 .

. 148

. XXV.

119 .

. 150

xxvu.

97 .

. IGO

XXVI 11.

22 .

. 1G2

. XXIX.

80 .

. 170

. XXIX.

IIG .

. 172

. XXX.

28 .

. 176

. XXXI.

100 .

. 184

XXXll.

148 .

. 192

XXXIII.

134 .

. 198

III.

14 .

. 214

V.

99 .

. 228

. VIII.

GO .

. 244

XII.

16 .

. 270

. XIV.

77 .

. 284

. XIV.

9G .

. 286

. XVI.

143 .

. 298

XVllI.

70 .

. 308

xvin.

120 .

. 310

. XIX.

1 .

. 313

. XX.

10 .

. 318

. XXI.

1 .

. 322

. XXI.

28 .

. 324

XXVI.

7 .

. 352

XXVII.

1 .

. 358

XXVIII.

80 .

. 366

XXXI.

1 .

. 382

XXXI.

64 .

. 384

URGATORY.

THE VISION OF DANTE

^nxQuioxv^.

CANTO I.

ARGUMENT.

The ^,!ot describes the delight he experienced at issuing a little before dawn from the infernal regions, into
tne pure air iiiat surrounds the isle of Purgatory ; and then relates liow, turning to the right, he beheld
four stars never seen before but by our first parents, and met on his left tlie sliade of Cato of Ttica, who,
having warned him and Virgil what is needful to be done before they proceed on their way tlirougli
Purgatory, disappears ; and the two poets go towards the sliore, where A'irgil cleanses Dante's face with
the dew, and girds him with a reed, as Cato had commanded.

/\'EIl better waves* to speed her rapid course

The light bark of my genius lifts the sail.
Well pleased to leave so cruel sea behind ;
And of that second region will 1 sing,
In which the human spirit from sinful blot
Is purged, and for ascent to Heaven prepares,

Here, ye hallow'd Nine ! for in your train
I follow^, here the deaden'd strain revive ;
Nor let Calliope refuse to sound
A somewhat higher song, of that loud tone
■Which when the wretched birds of chattering note*
Had heard, they of forgiveness lost all hope.

Sweet hue of eastern sapphire, that was spread
O'er the serene aspect of the pure air,

O'er betkr waves. — So Berni, "Orlando Inna-
moruto," lib. ii., c. i. :

"Per correr maggior acqua alza le vele,
O debil navicella del mio ingegno."

' Birds of chaf/erinff note. — For the fable of the
daughters of Pierus. who challenged the muses to
sing, and were by them changed into magpies, see
Ovid, " Mettimorphoses," lib. v., fab. 5.

2

THE VISION.

15—32

High up as the first circle/ to mine eyes
Unwonted joy rencw'd, soon as I 'scaped
Forth from the atmosphere of deadly gloom,
That had mine eyes and hosom fill'd with grief.
The radiant iilanet/ that to love invites,
Made all the orient laugh," and veil'd hcneath
The Pisces' light,^ that in his escort came.

To the right hand I turn'd, and fix'd my mind
On the other pole attentive, where I saw
Four stars' ne'er seen before save by the ken
Of onr first parents." Heaven of their rays
Seem'd joyous. thou northern site ! bereft
Indeed, and widow'd, since of these deprived.

As from this view I had desisted, straight
Turning a little towards the other pole,
There from whence now the wain' had disappcar'd,
I saw an old man'' standing by my side
Alone, so worthy of reverence in his look,

' 'f^o first circle. — Either, as some suppose, the
moon; or as Lorabardi (who likes to bo as far off
the rest of the comineiitatoi's as possible) will have
it, the l)i(]fho8t circle of the stars.

' Planet. — Venus.

* Made all the orient laugh. — Hence Chaucer,
"Knight's Tale:"

"And all the orisont laugheth of the sight."
It is sometimes read "orient."

* TJte Pisces' light. — The constellation of the
Fish veiled by the more luminous body of Venus,
then a morning star.

* Fuiir stars. — Venturi observes that "Dante here
speaks as a poet, and almost in the spirit of proph-
ecy; or, what is more likely, describes the heaven
about that pole according to his own invention. In
our days," he adds, "the cross, composed of four
stars, three of the second and one of the third mag-
nitude, serves as a guide to those who sail from
Kurope to the south; but in the age of Dante these
discoveries had not been made:" yet it appears
prolxiblc, that either from long tradition, or from
the relation of later voyagers, the real truth might
not have Ijeen unknown to our poet. Seneca's pre-
diction of the discovery of America may be accounted
for in a similar manner. But whatever may be
thought of this, it is certain that the four stars are

here symbolical of the four cardinal virtues. Pru-
dence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. See
canto xxxi., v. 105. M. Artaud mentions a globe
constructed by an Arabian in Egypt, with the date
of the year 022 of the Hegira, corresponding to 1225
of our era, in which the southern cross is positively
marked. See his "Historic de Dante," chap. xxxi.
and xl., 8"., Par., 1841.

° Our first parents. — In the terrestrial paradise,
placed, as we shall see, by our poet, on the summit
of Purgatory.

' The wain. — Charles's wain, or Bootes.

' An old man. — Cato.

"Secretosquc pios; his dantem jura Catonem."
Virgil, yEneid, viii. 070.
The commentators, and Lombardi amongst the
rest, might have saved themselves and their readers
much needless trouble if they would have consulted
the prose writings of Dante with more diligence. In
the "Convito," p. 211, he has himself declared his
opinion of the illustrious Ivoman: — "Quale uomo,"
&c., "What earthly man was more worthy to follow
God than Cato? Certainly none." And again, ]).
212: — "Nel nome di cui," &c., "In whose name,
whatever needs be said concerning the signs of no-
bility may be concluded; for in him that nobility
displays them all throughout all ages."

The radiant planet, that to love invites.
Made all the orient laugh, and veil'd beneath
The Pisces' light, that in his escort came.

Canto /., Una 19-21.

My guide, then laying hold on mo, by words
And intimations given with hand and head.
Made my bent knees and eyes submissive pay
Due reverence.

Ganlo I., linen 49-5?.

33— GO

PURGATORY. CANTO I.

3

That ne'er fiom son to father more was owed.
Low down his beard, and niix'd with lioary white,
Descended, like his locks, which, parting, fell
Upon his breast in double fold. The beams
Of those four luminaries on his face
So brightly shone, and with such radiance clear
Deck'd it, that I beheld him as the sun.

"Say who are ye, that stemming the blind stream,
Forth from the eternal prison-house have lied?"
Ho spoke and moved those venerable plumes.'
"Who hatli conducted, or with lantern sure
Lights you emerging from the depth of night,
That makes the infernal valley ever black ?
Are the firm statutes of the dread abyss
Broken, or in high heaven new laws ordain'd.
That thus, condemn'd, ye to my caves approach?"

My guide, then laying hold on me, by words
And intimations given with hand and head.
Made my bent knees and eye submissive pay
Due reverence ; then thus to him replied :

" Not of myself I come ; a Dame from heaven'
Descending, him besought rne in my charge
To bring. But since thy will implies, that more
Our true condition I unfold at large,
Mine is not to deny thee thy request.
This mortal ne'er hath seen the furthest glof
But erring by his folly had approached
So near, that little space was left to turn.

' Vemrable plumes. —

"Insperata tuae quum veniet pluma superbia?."
Horace, Carin., lib. iv., odo 10.
Tliesame metaplioi- has occurred in "Hell," canto x.,
V. 41:

"The plumes,
That mark'd the better sex."
It is used by Ford in the "Ijiidy's Trial," act iv., so. 3:
"Now the down
Of softness is exchanged for plumes of age."

' A Dame from heaven. — Beatrice. See "Hell,"
ii. 54.

° The furthest (jloom. — "L'ultima sera." So Ari-
osto, "Orlando Furioso," canto xxxiv., st. 59:

"Che noil ban visto ancor Tultima sera."
And "Filicaja," canto ix. :

"Al Son no. L'ultima sera."
And Mr. Mathias, "Canrone a rruglielmo Roscoe pre-
messa alia Storia della Poesia Italiana," p. 13:
"Di morte non vedri l'ultima sera."

THE VISION.

CI— 8G

Then, as before I told, I was ilispatcli'd

To work his rescue ; and no way remain'd

Save this which I have ta'en. I have display'd

Before him all the regions of the bad ;

And purpose now those spirits to display.

That under thy command are purged from sin.

How I have brought him would bo long to say.

From high descends the virtue, by whose aid

I to thy sight and hearing him have led.

Now may our coming please thee. In the search

Of liberty he journeys ; that how dear,

They know who for her sake have life refused.

Thou knowest, to whom death for her was sweet

In Utica, where thou didst leave those weeds,

That in the last great day will shine so bright.

For us the eternal edicts are unmoved :

He breathes, and I of Minos am not bound,*

Abiding in that circle, where the eyes

Of thy chaste Marcia^ beam, who still in look

Prays thee, hallow'd spirit ! to own her thine.

Then by her love we implore thee, let us pass

Though thy seven regions ; ^ for which, best thanks

I for thy favour will to her return,

If mention there below thou not disdain."

" Marcia so pleasing in my sight was found,"
He then to him rejoin'd, " while I was there.

1

' Of Minos dm not bound. — See "Hell," v. 4.

' Marcia. —

"Da foedera prisci
Illibata tori: da tantum nomen inane
Connubii: liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis
Martia." Lucan Pharsalia, lib. ii. 344.

Our author's habit of putting an allegorioal inter-
pretation on everything — a habit whicli appears to
liave descended to tliat age from certain fathers of
the church — is nowhere more apparent than in his
explanation of this passage. See " Convito," p. 211:
"Marzia fa vergine," &c., "Marcia was a virgin, and

in that state she signifies childhood; then she came
to Cato, and in that state she represents youth; she
then bare cliildven, by whom are represented the
virtues that we have said belong to that age." Dante
would surely have done well to remember his own
rule laid down in the "De Monarchia," lib. iii. :
"Advertendum," &c., "Concerning the mystical
sense, it must be observed that we may err in two
ways, either by seeing it where it is not, or by tak-
ing it otherwise than it ought to bo taken."

' Throioyh thy seven regions.^rha seven rounds
of Purgatory, in which the seven capital sins are
punislied.

87—116

PURGATORY. CANTO I.

That all she ask'd me I was fain to grant.
Now that beyond the accursed stream she dwells,
She may no longer move me, by that law,'
Which was ordain'd me, when 1 issued thence.
Not so, if Dame from heaven, as thou sayst,
Moves and directs thee ; then no flattery needs.
Enough for me that in her name thou ask.
Go therefore now; and with a slender reed*
See that thou duly gird him, and his face
Lave, till all sordid stain thou wipe from thence.
For not with eye, by any cloud obscured,
Would it be seemly before him to come.
Who stands the foremost minister in heaven.
This islet all around, there far beneath,
Where the wave beats it, on the oozy bed
Produces store of reeds. No other plant,
Cover'd with leaves, or harden'd in its stalk,
There lives, not bending to the water's sway.
After, this way return not ; but the sun
Will show you, that now rises, where to take'*
The mountain in its easiest ascent."

He disappear'd ; and I myself upraised
Speechless, and to my guide retiring close.
Toward him turn'd mine eyes. Tie thus began :
" My son ! observant thou my steps pursue.
We must retreat to rereward ; for that way
The champion to its low extreme declines."

The dawn had chased the matin hour of prime,
W^hich fled before it, so that from afar
1 spied the trembling of the ocean stream."*

■ Bij that law. — When he was delivered by Clirist
from limbo, a change of affections accompaniod his
change of place.

' A slender reed. — The reed is here supposed, with
sufticicnt probability, to be meant for a type of sim-
plicity and patience.

' Wliere to take. — "Prendere il monte," a reading
which Lombardi claims for his favonrite Nidobeatina
edition, is also found in Landino's of 1484.

' 1 spied the trembling of the ocean stream. —
"Conobbi il trcmolar della marina."
So Tressino, in the "Sofonisba:"

THE VISION.

117—136

We traversed the deserted plain, as one
Who, wander'd from his track, thinks every step
Trodden in vain till he regain the path.

When we had come, where yet the tender dew
Strove with the sun, and in a place where fresh
The wind breathed o'er it, while it slowly dried;
Both hands extended on the watery grass
My master placed, in graceful act and kind.
Whence I of his intent before apprised,
Stretch'd out to him my cheeks suffused with tears,
There to my visage he anew restored
That hue which the dun shades of hell concealed.

Then on the solitary shore arrived,
That never sailing on its waters saw
Man that could after measure back his course,
He girt me in such manner as had pleased
Him who instructed ; and, strange to tell !
As he selected every humble plant,
Wherever one was pluck'd another^ there
Resembling, straightway in its place arose.

"E resta in tremolar I'onda marina."
And Fortiguerni, " Ricciardetto," canto ix., st. 17:
"Visto il tremolar della marina."

' A7iother.— From Virgil, "iEneid," lib. vi. 143:
"Primo avulso non deficit alter."

CANTO II.

ARGUMENT.

They behold a vessel under conduct of an angel, coming over the waves with spirits to Purgatory, among
whom, when the passengers liuve landed, Dante recognises his friend Ciusella; but, while they are enter-
tained by liim with a song, they hear Cato exclaiming against their negligent loitering, and at that rebuke
hasten forwards to the mountain.

AIOVV had the sun' to that horizon rcach'd,
That covers, with the most exalted point
Of its meridian circle, Salem's walls;
And nii>ht, that opposite to him her orb
Rounds, from the stream of Ganges issued forth,
Holding the scales,* that from her hands arc dropt
When she reigns highest:^ so that w'here I was,
Aurora's white and vermeil- tinctured cheek
To orange turn'd^ as she in age increased.

Meanwhile we linger'd by the water's brink,
Like men,'^ who, musing on their road, in thought
Journey, while motionless the body rests.
When lo ! as, near upon the hour of dawn.
Through the thick vapours® Mars with fiery beam
Glares down in west, over the ocean floor ;

' Notv had the sun. — Dante was now antipodal to
Jerusalem; so that while the sun was setting with
respect to that place, which he supposes to be the
middle of the inhabited earth, to him it was rising.
See Eouth's "Rcliquiaj SacriB," tom. iii., p. 256. So
Fazio degli Uberti, "Dittamondo," lib. vi., cap. vi.:
"Questo monte e qucllo
Ch' in mezzo il mondo apunto si divisa."

' The scales. — The constellation Libra.

' When she reigns highest. — "Quando sovcrchia"
is (according to Venturi, whom'I have followed),
"when the autumnal equinox is ]Kissed." Lombardi
supposes it to moan "when the nights begin to in-
crease; that is, after the summer solstice."

* To orange turn'd. — "L'aurora gia di vermiglia
cominciava appressandosi il sole a divenir rancia."
Boccaccio, "Decameron," (iiorn. iii., at the begin-
ning. Sec notes to "llell," xxiii. 101.

' Like men. —

"Che va col cuore e col corpo dimora."

So Frezzi:

"E mentre il corpo posii, col cor varca."

11 Qnadriregio, lib. iv., cap. 8.

" Through the thick vapours. — So in the "Convi-
to,"p. T2:""Esso pare," &c., "He (Mars) appears
more or less inflamed with lieat, according to the
thickness or rarity of the vapours that follow him."

7

8

THE VISION.

16— 4G

So seem'd, what once again I hope to view,

A light, so swiftly coming throngh the sea,

No winged course might equal its career.

From which when for a space I had withdrawn

Mine eyes, to make inquiry of my guide,

Again I look'd, and saw it grown in size

And brightness : then on either side appear'd

Something, but what I knew not, of bright hue,

And by degrees from underneath it came

Another. My preceptor silent yet

Stood, while the brightness, that we first discern'd

Open'd the form of wings : then when he knew

The pilot cried aloud, " Down, down ; bend low

Thy knees ; behold God's angel : fold thy hands :

Now shalt thou see true ministers indeed.

Lo ! how all human means he sets at nought ;

So that nor oar he needs, nor other sail

Except his wings,' between such distant shores.

Lo ! how straight up to heaven he holds them rear'd,

Winnowing the air* with those eternal plumes.

That not like mortal hairs fall oiF or change."

As more and more toward us came, more bright
Appear'd the bird of God, nor could the eye
Endure his splendour near: I mine bent down.
He drove ashore in a small bark so swift
And light, that in its course no wave it drank.
The heavenly steersman at the prow was seen,
Visibly written Blessed in his looks.
Within, a hundred spirits and more there sat.

"In Exitu^ Israel de Egypto,"
All with one voice together sang, with what

' Except his wings. — Hence Milton:
" Who after came from earth, sailing arrived
Wafted by angels."

Paradise Lost, b. iii., ver, 521.
' Winnowing the air. —

"Trattando I'aere con I'eteme penne."
So "Filicaja," cana. viii., st. 11:

"Ma trattar I'aere coll' eterne piume."
' In Exitu, — "AVhen Israel came out of Egypt.'
Ps. cxiv.

Then when he knew
The pilot cried aloud, "Down, down; bend low
Thy knees; behold God's angel: fold thy hands:
Now shalt thou see true ministers indeed."

Gunto II., linei 27-30.

The heavenly steersman at the prow was seen.
Visibly written Blessed in his looks.

CwUv II. .. lilies 43, 43.

47 — 74

rUKGATORY. CANTO II.

9

In the remainder of that hymn is writ.

Then soon as with the sign of holy cross

He bless'd them, they at once ieap'd out on hind :

He, swiftly as he came, rcturn'd. The crew.

There left, appear'd astounded with the place.

Gazing around, as one who sees new sights.

From every side the sun darted his beams,
And with his arrowy radiance ' from mid heaven
Had chased the Capricorn, when that strange tribe,
Lifting their eyes toward us : " If ye know,
Declare what path will lead us to the mount."

Then Virgil answer'd : " Ye suppose, perchance,
Us well acquainted with this place : but here,
We, as yourselves, arc strangers. Not long erst
We came, before you but a little space,
By other road so rough and hard, that now
The ascent will seem to us as play." The spirits,
Who from my breathing had perceived I lived,
Grew pale with w'onder. As the multitude
Flock round a herald sent with olive branch.
To hoar what news he brings, and in their haste
Tread one another down ; e'en so at sight
Of me those happy spirits were fix'd, each one
Forgetful of its errand to depart
Where, cleansed from sin, it might be made all fair.

Then one I saw dartins: before the rest
With such fond ardour to embrace me, I
To do the like was moved. shadows vain !

' m(h hix arroivy radiance. — So Milton:

"And now when forth the morn:
. . . from before her vanish'd night,
Shot through with orient beams."

Paradise Lost, b. vi., ver. 15.

This has been regarded by some critics as a conceit,
into which Milton was betrayed by the Italian poets;

but it is, in truth, authorised by one of the corrcct-
est of the Grecians:

'Of a'i6\a viif ivapil^ofiira

TiKTei, Karewii^et re, <j)h>yt!^6/tevov

Sophocles, Traehiii., 96.
" Ecco dinanzi a te f ugge repentc
Saettata la notte."
Marin i. San. al Sig.Ciiithio Aldobrandino.

10

THE VISION.

-94

.. 1

Except in outward sciublaiico : tlirice my hands '

1 clasp'd behind it, they as oft return d

Empty into my breast again. Surprise

1 need must think was painted in my looks,

Tor that the shadow smiled and backward drew.

To follow it 1 hastcn'd, but with voice

Of sweetness it enjoin'd me to desist.

Then who it was I knew, and pray'd of it,

To talk with me it would a little pause.

It auswer'd : " Tlieo as in my mortal frame

I loved, so loosed from it I love thee still,

And therefore pause: but why walkest thou hero?"

"Not without purpose once more to return,
Thou find'st me, my Casella,~ where 1 ani,^
Journeying this way," I said. "But how of thee
Hath so much time been lost?'" He auswer'd straight

" No outrage hath been done to me, if he,^
"Who when and whom he chooses takes, hath oft
Denied me passage here ; since of just will
His will he makes. These three months past" indeed,

' Thrice nnj hands. —

"Ter conatus ibi collo bare brachia circnm,
Ter frustra compreiisa manus effugit imago,
Parlevibusveatisvolucriquosimillimasomno."
Virgil, yEncid, ii. 794.

Compare Homer, "Odyssey," xi. 205. The iiicidont
in the text is pleiisantly aUuded to in that delightful
book the "Capricci del Botaio" of Gelli (Ope re,
Milan, 1805, v. ii., p. 2G), of which there is an Eng-
lish translation entitled "The Fearful! Fancies of the
Florentine Cooper. Written in Toscane, by John
Baptist Gelli, one of the Free Studie of Florence;
and for recreation translated into English by W.
Barker." 8vo, I^ndon, 1599.

' My Casella. — A Florentine, celebrated for his
skill in music, "in whose company," says Landino,
"Dante often recreated his spirits, wearied by severer
studies." See Dr. Barney's "History of Music,"
vol. ii., cap iv., p. 322. Milton has a fine allusion
to this meeting in his sonnet to Henry Lawes:

"Dante shall give fame leave to set tlice higher
Than his Casella, whom he wooed to sing.
Met in the milder shades of Purgatory."

• Where 1 am. — " !>:; dove io son." Lombard! un-

derstands this differently: "Not without purpose to
return again to the earth, where I am; that is, where
I usually dwell."

« Hath so much time been lost. — There is some un-
certainty in this passage. If wo read —

"Ma a te com' era tanta terra tolta ?"
with the Nidobaatina and Aldiue editions, and many
MSS., it signifies, "why art thou deprived of so de-
sirable a region as that of I'urgatory ? why dost thou
not hasten to be cleansed of thy sins ?" If, with the
Academicians della Crusca, we read —

"Diss 'io, ma a te come taut' ora e tolta ?"
which is not destitute of authority to support it, and
which has the advantage over the other, as it marks
Dante's speech from Casella's, then it must mean, as
I have translated it, "why hast thou lost so much
time in arriving here ?" Lombardi, who is for the
former reading, supposes Casella to bo just dead;
those Avho prefer tlie latter, suppose him to have
been dead some years, but now only just arrived.

' He. — The conducting angel.

° These three months past. — Since the time of the
Jubilee, during which all spirits not condemned to
eternal punishment were supjiosed to pass over to
Purgatory as soon as they pleased.

9<''>— 1~G rUUGATOKY. CANTO II. 11

He, whoso chose to enter, with free leave
Hath taken ; whence I wandering by the shore '
Where Tiber's wave grows salt,' of him gain'd kind
Admittance, at that river's mouth, toward which
His wings are pointed ; for there always throng
All such as not to Acheron descend."

Then I : " If new law taketh not from thee
Memory or custom of love-tuned song.
That whilom all my cares had power to 'swage ;
Please thee therewith a little to console
My spirit, that encumber'd with its frame,
Travelling so far, of. pain is overcome."

" Love, that discourses in my thoughts," * he then
Began in such soft accents, that within
The sweetness thrills me yet. My gentle guide,
And all who came with him, so well were pleased.
That seem'd nouoht else mi^ht in their thou2;hts have room.

Fast fix'd in mute attention to his notes
We stood, when lo ! that old man venerable
Exclaiming, "How is this, ye tardy spirits?
What negligence detains you loitering here?
llun to the mountain to cast off those scales.
That from your eyes the sight of God conceal."

As a wild Hock of pigeons, to their food
Collected, blade or tares, without their pride
Accustom'd, and in still and quiet sort.
If aught alarm them, suddenly desert
Their meal, assail'd by more important care ;
So I that new-come troop beheld, the song
Deserting, hasten to the mountain's side.
As one who goes, yet, where he tends, knows not.

Nor with less hurried step did we depart.

' Tlie shore. — Ostia.

' Love, that discourses in niy thoughts. —
"Amor die nellti mente mi ragiona,"
the first verse of a canzone in the " Convito" of Dante,
which he again cites in his treatise "De Vulgari El-
oquentia," lib. ii. cap. C.

' As one tvho goes, yet, where he tends, knmos
not. —

"Com' uoni, che va, n& sa dove riesca."
So Frezzi:

"Come chi va, nc sa dove camina."

11 Quadriregio, lib. i., cap. 3.

CANTO III.

ARGUMENT.

Oar Poet, perceiving no sliiiclow except that cast by his own body, is fearful that Virgil has desertcil him:
but he is freed from that error, and botli arrive together at the foot of the mountain. On finding it
too steep to climb, they inquire the way from a troop of spirits that are coming towards them, and are
by them shown which is the easiest ascent. Manfredi, King of Naples, who is one of these spirits, bids
I)aute inform his daughter Costanzii, Queen of Arragon, of the manner in which he had died.

rpiIEM sudden lliglit had scatter'd o'er the plain,

Turn'd towards the mountain, whither reason's voice

Drives us: I, to my faithful company

Adhering, left it not. For how, of him

Deprived, might I have sped ? or who, beside.

Would o'er the mountainous tract have led my steps?

He, with the bitter pang of self-remorse,

Seem'd smitten. clear conscience, and upright !

IIow doth a little failing wound thee sore.'
Soon as his feet desisted (slackening pace)

From haste, that mars all decency of act,^

My mind, that in itself before was wrapt.

Its thought expanded, as with joy restored ;

And full against the steep ascent I set

My face, where highest'* to heaven its top o'erflows.
The sun, that flared behind, with ruddy beam

' clear conscience, and uprirjlii !

IIoio doth a little failing wound thee sore. — •

**Ch' era al cor picciol fallo amaro morso."
Tasso, Gierusalemme Liberata, c. x., st. 59.

' Haste, that mars all decency of act. — Aristotle,
in his "Physiog.," c. iii., reckons it among the
avaidovi eitiuia ("the signs of an impudent man"),
that lie is ly rati Ktvi/aemv o^v( ("quick in his mo-
tions"). Compare Sophocles, "Electra," 878:

16 Kiofuov litBelea.

"Joy, my dear sister, wings my quick return.
And with more speed than decency allows."

Potter.
' Where highest. — Lombardi proposes, with some
licsitation, a different meaning from tliat which has
hitherto been affixed to the words —

"Che 'n verso '1 ciel piti alto si dislaga;"
and would construe them, "that raises itself higher
than every other mountain above the sea" ("sopra
I'allagamento dellc acque del mare"). The conjec-
ture is at least ingenious, and has obtained new force
by the arguments of Monti in his "Proposta."

13

17—48

PURGATORY. — CANTO II

13

Before my form was broken ; for in me
His rays resistance met. I turii'd aside
With fear of being left, when I beheUl
Only before myself the ground obscured.
When thus my solace, turning him around,
r>espake me kindly : " Why distrustest thou ?
Believest not I am with thee, thy sure guide?
It now is evening there, where buried lies
The body in which I cast a shade, removed
To Naples ' from l^rundusium's wall. Nor thou
Marvel, if before me no shadow fjill,
More than that in the skyey element
One ray obstructs not other. To endure
Torments of heat and cold extreme, like frames
That virtue hath disposed, which, how it works,
Wills not to us should be reveal'd. Insane,
Who hopes our reason may that space explore,
Which holds three persons in one substance knit.
Seek not the wherefore, race of liuman kind ;
Could ye have seen the whole, no need had been
For Mary to bring forth. Moreover, ye
Have seen such men desiring fruitlessly ;*
To whose desires, repose would have been given,
That now but serve them for eternal grief.
I speak of Plato, and the Stagirite,
And others many more." And then he bent
Downwards his forehead, and in troubled mood^
Broke oiF his speech. Meanwhile we had arrived
Far as the mountain's foot, and there the rock
Found of so steep ascent, that nimblest steps
To climb it had been vain. The most remote,
Most wild, untrodden path, in all the tract

• To JVapIes. — Virgil died at Brnndusinm, from
whence liis body is said to have been removed to
Naples.

' Desiring frnUleHshj. — See "Hell," canto iv. 39.

' In trnuhhd mnnd. — Because he liimself (Virgil)
was amongst the number of spirits who thus desired
without hope.

14

THE VISION.

49—75

Twixt Lcrice and Turbia/ were to this
A ladder easy and open of access.

" Who knows on which hand now the steep declines ? "
My master said, and pansed; "so that he may
Ascend, who journeys without aid of wing?"
And while, with looks directed to the ground,
The meaning of the pathway he explored,^
And I gazed upward lound the stony height ;
On the left hand appear'd to us a troop
Of spirits, that toward us moved their steps ;
Yet moving seem'd not, they so slow approach'd.

I thus my guide addrcss'd : " Upraise thine eyes :
Lo ! that way some, of whom thou mayst obtain
Counsel, if of thyself thou find'st it not."

Straightway he look'd, and with free speech replied :
" Let us tend thither : they but softly come.
And thou be firm in hope, my son beloved."

Now was that crowd from us distant as far,
(When we some thousand steps,^ I say, had past,)
As at a throw the nervous arm could fling;
When all drew backward on the massy crags
Of the steep bank, and firmly stood unmoved,
As one, who walks in doubt, might .stand to look.

" spirits perfect ! already chosen ! "
Virgil to them began : " by that blest peace,
Which, as I deem, is for you all prepared,
Instruct us where the mountain low declines,

' 'Twixt Lerice and TurUa. — At that time the
two extremities of the Genoese rej^ublie; the former
on the east, the latter on tlie west. A very ingen-
ious writer lias had occasion, for a different puri)ose,
to mention one of these places as remarkably seclud-
ed by its mountainous situation. "On an eminence
among the mountains, between the two little cities,
Nice and Monaco, is the village of Torbia, a name
formed from the Greek Tponaia." — Mifford on
(he Harmony of Language, sect, xv., p. 351, 2nd
edit.

' The meaning of the pathway he explored. — Lom-
bardi reads —

"Tenea '1 vise basso,
Esaminando del cammin la mente,"
and explains it, "he bent down his face, his mind
being occupied with considering their way to ascend
the mountain." I doubt much whether the words
can bear that construction.

' When we iome thoumnd steps, — Mr. Carlyle puts
a query to my former translation of this passage. It
was certaiidv erroneous.

76—100

PURGATORY. — CANTO III.

15

So that attempt to mount it be not vain.

For who knows most, him loss of time most grieves."

As sheep/ that step from forth their fold, by one,
Or pairs, or three at once ; meanwhile the rest
Stand fearfully, bending the eye and nose
To ground, and what the foremost does, that do
The others, gathering round her if she stops
Simple and quiet, nor the cause discern ;
So saw I moving to advance the first.
Who of that fortunate crew were at the head,
Of modest mien, and graceful in their gait
When they before me liad beheld the light
From my right side fall l)roken on the ground,
So that the shadow rcach'd the cave ; they stopp'd,
And somewhat back retired : the same did all
Who foUow'd, though unweeting of the cause.

"Unask'd of you, yet freely I confess
This is a human body which ye see.
That the sun's light is broken on the ground.
Marvel not : but believe, that not without
Virtue derived from Heaven, we to climb
Over this wall aspire." So them bespake
My master ; and that virtuous tribe rcjoin'd :
'•' Turn, and before you there the entrance lies ; "
Making a signal to us with bent hands.

Then of them one began. " Whoe'er thou art,
Who journey'st thus this way, thy visage turn ;
Think if me elsewhere thou hast ever seen."

I towards him turn'd, and with fix'd eye beheld.
Comely and fiiir, and gentle of ascept
lie seem'd, but on one brow a gash was mark'd.

' As sheep. — The imitative nature of these ani-
mals supplies our poet with another comparison in
his "Convito," p. 34: "Questi sono da chiamare pe-
core," &c., "These may be called flocks of sheep
and not men; for if one sheep should throw himself

down a precipice of a thousand feet, all the rest
would follow; and if one for any cause in passing a
road should leap, all the rest would do the same,
though they saw nothing to leap over."

16

THE VISION.

107—123

When humbly I disclaim'd to have beheld
Him ever: "Now behold!" he said, and show'd
High on his breast a wound : then smiling spake.

" I am Manfredi,' grandson to the Queen
Costanza : ' whence I pray thee, when return'd.
To my fair daughter'* go, the parent glad
Of Aragonia and Sicilia's pride ;
And of the truth inform her, if of me
Aught else be told. When by two mortal blows
My frame was shatter'd, I betook myself
Weeping to him, who of free will forgives.
My sins were horrible : but so wide arms
Hath goodness infinite, that it receives
All who turn to it. Had this text divine
Been of Cosenza's shepherd better scann'd,
Who then by Clement on my hunt was set,*
Yet at the bridge's head my bones had lain,

' Manfredi. — King of Naples and Sicily, and the
natural son of Frederick II. He was lively and
agreeable in his manners, and delighted in poetry,
music, and dancing. But he was luxurious and am-
bitious, void of religion, and iu his plilosophy an
Epicurean. See G. Villani, lib. vi., cap. xlvii., and
Mr. Mathias's "Tiraboschi," vol. i., p. 99. He fell
in the battle with Charles of Anjou in 1365, alluded
to in canto xxviii. of "Hell," v. 13, or rather in that
which ensued in the course of a few days at Bene-
vento. But the successes of Charles were so rapidly
followed up, that our author, exact as he generally
is, might not have thought it necessary to distin-
guish them in point of time; for this seems the best
method of reconciling some little apparent incon-
sistency between him and the annalist. "Dying ex-
communicated. King Charles did not allow of his
being buried in sacred ground, but he was interred
near the bridge of Benevento; and on his grave there
was cast a stone by every one of the army, whence
there was formed a great mound of stones. But some
have said tliat afterwards, by command of the Pope,
the Bishop of Cosenza took up his body and sent it out
of the kingdom, because it was the land of the church ;
and that it was buried by the river Verde, on the
borders of the kingdom and of Campagna. This,
however, we do not affirm." — G. Villani, "Hist.,"
lib. vii., cap. ix. Manfredi and his father arc spoken

of by our poet in his " De Vulgari Eloquentia," lib.
i., cap. 12, with singular commendation: "Siquidem
illustres," &c., "Those illustrious worthies, Freder-
ick the Emperor, and his well-born son Manfredi,
manifested their nobility and uprightness of form,
as long as fortune remained, by following pursuits
worthy of men, and disdained those which are suited
only to brutes. Such, therefore, as were of a lofty
spirit, and graced with natural endowments, endeav-
oured to walk in the track which the majesty of such
great princes had marked out for them: so that
whatever was iu their time attempted by eminent
Italians, first made its appearance in the court of
crowned sovereigns; and because Sicily was a ro3'al
throne, it came to pass that whatever was produced
in the vernacular tongue by our predecessors was
called Sicilian; which neither we nor our posterity
shall be able to change."

' Costanza. — See "Paradise," canto iii. 121.

' My fail- dauglder. — Costanza, the daughter of
Manfredi, and wife of Peter III., King of Arragon,
by whom she was mother to Frederick, King of Sic-
ily, and James, King of Arragon. AVith the latter
of these she was at Homo 139G. See G. Villani, hb.
viii., cap. xviii., and notes to canto vii.

' Who then hy Clement on my hunt was set. —
Pope Clement IV.

And I gazed upward rouua tne stony lieigiit;
On the left liand appear'd to us a troop
Of spirits, that toward us moved their steps;
Yet moving seem'd not, they so slow approach'd.

Canto III., line) 56-59.

124— Ul

PURGATORY. — CANTO III.

17

Near Benevento, by the heavy mole

Protected ; but the rain now drenches them,

And the wind drives, out of the kingdom's bounds,

Far as the stream of Verde,' where, with lights

Extinguish'd, he removed them from their bed.

Yet by their curse we are not so destroy'd,

But that the eternal love may turn, while hope*

lletains her verdant blossom. True it is.

That such one as in contumacy dies

Against the holy church, though he repent,

Must wander thirty-fold for all the time

In his presumption past ; if such decree

Be not by prayers of good men shorter made.

Look therefore if thou canst advance my bliss ;

Revealing to my good Costanza how

Thou hast beheld me, and beside, the terms

Laid on me of that interdict ; for here

By means of those below much profit comes."

' The stream of Verde. — A river near Ascoli, that
falls into the Tronto. The "extinguished lights"
formed part of the ceremony at the interment of one
excommunicated :

"Passa la mora di Manfre, cui lava
II Verde."

Uberti, DUtamondo, lib. iii., cap. i.,
as corrected by Perticari.

''Hope. — "Mentre che la speranza ha fior del
verde." So Tasso, "Gierusalemme Liberata," canto
xix., st. 53:

"Intin che verde e fior di speme."

CANTO IV.

ARGUMENT.

Dante and Virgil ascend tlie mountain of Purgatory, by a steep and narrow path pent in on each side by
rock, till they reach a part of it that opens into a ledge or cornice. There seating themselves, and
turning to the east, Dante wonders at seeing the sun on their left, the cause of which is explained
to him by Virgil; and while they continue their discourse, a voice addresses them, at which they turn,
and find several spirits behind the rock, and amongst the rest one named Belacqua, who had been known
to our Poet on earth, and who tells that ho is doomed to linger there on account of his having delayed
his repentance to the last.

"fi^THEN' by sensations of delight or pain,
That any of onr faculties hath seized,
Entire the soul collects herself, it seems
She is intent upon that power alone ;
And thus the error is disproved, which holds
The soul not singly lighted in the breast.
And therefore when as aught is heard or seen,
That firmly keeps the soul toward it turn'd.
Time passes, and a man perceives it not.
For that, whereby we hearken, is one power ;

' Wlien. — It must be owned the beginning of this
canto is somewhat obscure. Vellutello refers, for
an elucidation of it, to the reasoning of Statius in
the twenty-fifth canto. Perhaps some illustration
may be derived from the following passage in the
"Summa Theologiae" of Thomas Aquinas: "Some
say that in addition to the vegetable soul, which was
present from the first, there supervenes another soul,
which is the sensitive; and again, in addition to that,
another, which is the intellective. And so there are
in man three souls, one of which exists potentially
with regard to another: but this has been already
disproved. And accordingly others say that that
same soul, wliich at first was merely vegetative, is,
through action of the seminal virtue, carried forward
till it reaches to that point in wliich, being still the
same, it nevertheless becomes sensitive; and at length
the same, by an ulterior progression, is led on till it
becomes intellective; not, indeed, through the sem-
inal virtue acting in it, but by virtue of a superior
18

agent, that is, God, enlightening it from without."
This opinion he next proceeds to confute. "Dicunt
ergo quidam quod supra animam vegetabilem, quae
prime inerat, supervenit alia anima, qute est sensi-
tiva, supra illam iterum alia quae est intellectiva. Et
sic sunt in homine tres animse, quarum una est in
potentia ad aliam, quod supra improbatum est. Et
ideo alii dicunt, quod ilia eadem anima, quae prime
fuit vegetativa tantum, postmodum per actionem
virtutis, quffi est in semine, perducitur ad hoc, ut
ipsa eadem fiat sensitiva; et tandem ipsa eadem per-
ducitur ad hoc, ut ipsa eadem fiat intellectiva, non
quidem per virtutem activam seminis, sed per vir-
tutem superioris agentis, scilicet Dei dcforis illus-
trantis." — Thorn. Aquin. Opera, Edit, Venet., 1595,
torn. X., Summa Theolog., Ima Pars., Quaestio cxviii..
Art. ii. See also"Lettere di Era Gnittone," 4to,
Roma, 1745, p. 15; and Routh's note on the "Gor-
gias" of Plato, p. 451.

11—40

PURGATORY. — CANTO IV.

19

Another that, which tlie whole spirit hath :
This is as it were bound, while that is free.

This found I true by proof, hearing that spirit,
And wondering; for full fifty steps' aloft
The sun had measured, unobserved of me.
When we arrived where all with one accord
The spirits shouted, "Here is what ye ask."

A larger aperture oft-times is stopt.
With forked stake of thorn by villager.
When the ripe grape imbrowns, than was the path
By which my guide, and I behind him close.
Ascended solitary, when that troop
Departing left us. On Sanleo's' road
Who journeys, or to Noli'' low descends.
Or mounts Bismantua's ' height, must use his feet;
But here a man had need to fly, I mean
With the swift wing'' and plumes of high desire.
Conducted by his aid, who gave me hope.
And with light furnish'd to direct my way.

We through the broken rock ascended, close
Pent on each side, while underneath, the ground
Ask'd help of hands and fleet. When we arrived
Near on the highest ridge of the steep bank.
Where the plain level open'd, I exclaim'd,
" Master ! say, which way can we proceed."

He answer'd, " Let no step of thine recede.
Behind me gain the mountain, till to us
Some practised guide appear." That eminence
Was lofty, that no eye might reach its point ;
And the side proudly rising, more than line"

' Full fifty steps. — Tliree hours and twenty min-
utes, fifteen degrees being reckoned to an hour.

" Sanleo. — A fortress on the summit of Montefel-
tro. The situation is described by Troya, "Veltro
Allegorico," p. 11. It is a conspicuous object to
travellers along the cornice on the riviera di Genoa.

" Noli. — In the Genoese territory, between Finale
and Savona.

' Bismanfua. — A steep mountain in the territory
of Keggio.

' WitJi the swift wing. — Compare "Paradise," can-
to xxxiii. 17.

' More than line. — It was much nearer to being
perpendicular than horizontal.

20

THE VISION.

41— G7

From the mid quadrant to the centre drawn.
I, wearied, thus began : " Parent beloved !
Turn and behold how I remain alone,
If thou stay not." " My son ! " he straight replied,
" Thus far put forth thy strength ;" and to a track
Pointed, that, on this side projecting, round
Circles the hill. His words so spurr'd me on.
That I, behind him, clambering, forced myself,
Till my feet press'd the circuit plain beneath.
There both together seated, turn'd we round
To eastward, whence was our ascent : and oft
Many beside have with delight look'd back.

First on the nether shores I turn'd mine eyes,
Then raised them to the sun, and wondering mark'd
That from the left' it smote us. Soon perceived
That poet sage, how at the car of light
Amazed' 1 stood, where 'twixt us and the north
Its course it enter'd. Whence he thus to me :
"Were Leda's offspring^ now in company
Of that broad mirror, that high up and low
Imparts his light beneath, thou mightst behold
The ruddy Zodiac nearer to the Bears
Wheel, if its ancient course it not forsook.
How that may be, if thou wouldst think ; within
Pondering, imagine Sion with this mount
Placed on the earth, so that to both be one
Horizon, and two hemispheres apart.

' From the left. — ^Vellutello observes an imitation
of Lncan in this passage:

"Ignotum vobis, Arabes, venistis in orbem,
Umbras mirati nemorum noii ire sinistras."

Fharmlia, lib. iii. 248.
' Amazed. — He wonders that being turned to tlie
east he should see the sun on liis left, since in all the
regions on this side of the tropic of Cancer it is seen
on the right of one who turns his face towards the
east; not recollecting that he was now antipodal to
Europe, from whence he had seen the sun taking an
opposite course.

' Were Leda's offspring. — "As the constellation of
the Gemini is nearer tlie Bears than Aries is, it is
certain that if the sun, instead of being in Aries,
had been in Gemini, both the sun and that portion
of the Zodiac made ' ruddy ' by the sun, would have
been seen to 'wheel nearer to the Bears.' By the
' ruddy Zodiac ' must necessarily be understood that
portion of the Zodiac affected or made red by the
sun; for the whole of the Zodiac never changes, nor
appears to change, with respect to the remainder of
the heavens," — Lombardi.

While underneath, the ground
Ask'd help o£ hands and feet.

Vinito IV. «;n«:!1.33.

68—96

PURGATORY. — CANTO IV.

21

Where lies tlic path' that Phaeton ill knew
To guide his erring chariot: thou wilt see*
How of necessity by this, on one,
He passes, while by that on the other side;
If with that clear view thine intellect attend."

" Of truth, kind teacher ! " I exclaini'd, " so clear
Aught saw I never, as I now discern,
Where seom'd my ken to fail, that the mid orb'
Of the supernal motion (which in terms
Of art is call'd the Equator, and remains
Still 'twixt the sun and winter) for the cause
Thou hast assign'd, from hence toward the north
Departs, when those, who in the Hebrew laud
Were dwellers, saw it towards the warmer part.
But if it please thee, I would gladly know,
How far we have to journey : for the hill
Mounts higher, than this sight of mine can mount."

He thus to me : " Such is this steep ascent,
That it is ever difficult at first.
But more a man proceeds, less evil grows.^
When pleasant it shall seem to thee, so much
That upward going shall be easy to thee
As in a vessel to go down the tide.
Then of this path thou wilt have reach'd the end.
There hope to rest thee from thy toil. No more
I answer, and thus far for certain know."
As he his words had spoken, near to us
A voice there sounded : " Yet ye first perchance
May to repose you by constraint be led."

' The path. — The ecliptic.

" Thou wilt see. — " If j'ou consider that this moun-
tahi of Purgatory, and that of Sion, are aiiti^wdal to
each other, you will perceive that the sun must rise
on opposite sides of the respective eminences."

' That the mid orb. — -'"i'liat the equator (which is
always situated between that part where, when the
sun is, he causes summer, and the other where his

absence produces winter) recedes from this mountain
towards tlic north, at the time when the Jews inhab-
iting Mount Sion saw it depart towards the south."
— Lombardi.

But more a man proceeds, less evil grows. — Be-
cause in ascending he gets rid of the weight of his

sins.

')->

THE VISION.

97—126

At sound thereof each turn'd ; and on the left
A huge stone we hehekl, of which nor I
Nor he before was ware. Thither we drew ;
And there were some, who in the shady place
Behind the rock were standing, as a man
Throuirh idleness might stand. Among them one,
Who seem'd to be much wearied, sat him down,
And with his arms did fold his knees about,
Iloldino; his face between them downward bent.

" Sweet Sir ! " I cried, " behold that man who shows
Himself more idle than if laziness
Were sister to him." Straight he turn'd to us,
And, o'er the thigh lifting his face, observed,
Then in these accents spake : " Up then, proceed,
Thou valiant one." Straight who it was I knew ;
Nor could the pain I felt (for want of breath
Still somewhat urged me) hinder ni}^ approach.
And when I came to him, he scarce his head
Uplifted, saying, " Well hast thou discern'd,
How from the left the sun his chariot leads."

His lazy acts and broken words my lips
To laughter somew'hat moved ; when I began :
" Belacqua,^ now for thee I grieve no more.
But tell, why thou art seated upright there.
Waitest thou escort to conduct thee hence?
Or blame I only thine accustom'd ways?"
Then he : " My brother ! of what use to mount,
When, to my suffering, would not let me pass
The bird of God," who at the portal sits?
Behoves so long that heaven first bear me round

' Belacqua. — Concerning tliis man, the comnien-
tiitors afford no information, except tliat in the mar-
gin of the Monte Casino MS. there is found this
brief notice of him: "Iste Belacqua fuit optimus
magister citliararum, et leutorum, ct pigrissimus
liomo in operibus mundi sicnt in operibus animae"
("This Belacqua was an excellent master of the harp

and kite, but very negligent in his affairs, both spir-
itual and temporal"). — Letlcra di Eustazio Dicear-
cJieo ad Angelio Sidicino, 4to, Roma, 1801.

" The hird of (Ind. — Here arc two other readings,
"Uscier" and ""Angel" ("Usher" and "Angel") of
God.

-1^5 PUUGATORY. CANTO IV. 23

Without its limits, as in life it bore ;
Because I, to the end, repentant sighs
Delay'd; if prayer do not aid me first,
That riscth up from heart which lives in grace.
What other kind avails, not heard in heaven?"

Before me now the poet, up the mount
Ascending, cried : " Haste thee : for see the sun
Has touch'd the point meridian ; and the night
Now covers with her foot Marocco's shore."'

Marocco's shore. — ^"Cuopre la notte giJi col pie
Marocco." Hence, perhaps, Milton:

"Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond."

Paradise Lost, b. i. 584.

Instead of Morocco, as he elsewlierc calls it:
"Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen."

Paradise Lost, b. xi, 404.
If the vowels were to change places, the verse would
in both instances be spoiled.

CANTO y.

ARGUMENT.

They meet with others, who had deferred their repentance till they were overtaken by a violent death, when
sufScient spivce being allowed them, they were then saved; aud amongst these Giacopo del Cassero,
Buoncoute da Montefeltro, and I'ia, a lady of Sienua.

lyrOW had 1 left those spirits, and pursued

The steps of my conductor ; when hehind,
Pointing the finger at me, one exclaim'd :
" See, how it seems as if the light not shone
From the left hand' of him beneath,^ and he,
As living, seems to he led on." Mine eyes
I at that sound reverting, saw them gaze,
Through wonder, first at me; and then at me
And the light broken underneath, by turns.
"Why are thy thoughts thus riveted," my guide
Exclaim'd, "that thou hast slack'd thy pace? or how
Imports it thee, what thing is whispcr'd here?
Come after me, and to their babblings leave
The crowd. Be as a tower,^ that, firmly set,
Shakes not its top for any blast that blows.
He, in whose bosom thought on thought shoots out.
Still of his aim is wide, in that the one
Sicklies and wastes to nought the other's strength."

' F>ee, how it seems as if the light not shone from
the left hand. — The sun was, therefore, on the right
of our travellers. For, as before, when seated and
looking to the east from whence they had ascended,
the sun was on their left, so now that they liave
risen and are again going forward, it must he on the
opposite side of them.

' Of him beneath. — Of Dante, who was following
24

Virgil np the mountain, and, therefore, was the
lower of the two.

' Be as a tower. — "Sta come torre ferma," So
Berni, "Orlando Innamorato," lib. i., c. xvi., st. 48:
"In quel due piedi sta fermo il gigaiite
Com' una torre in me^zo d'un castello."
And Milton, "Paradise Lost," b. i. 591: "Stood like
a tower."

And there were some, who in the shady place
Behind the rock were standing, as a man
Through idleness might stand.

Canto IV-, lines 100-102.

"Many," exclaim'd the bard, "are these, who throng
Around us: to petition thee, they come.
Go therefore on, and listen as thou go'st."

Canto v.. lines 43-44.

19—43

PURGATORY. — CANTO V.

25

What other could I answer, save " I come ? "
I said it, somewhat with that colour tinged.
Which oft-times pardon meriteth for man.

Meanwhile traverse along the hill there came,
A little way before us, some who sang
The " Miserere " in responsive strains.
When they perceived that through my body I
Gave way not for the rays to pass, their song
Straight to a long and hoarse exclaim they changed;
And two of them, in guise of messengers,
Kan on to meet us, and inquiring ask'd :
"Of your condition we would gladly learn.'

To them my guide. " Ye may return, and bear
Tidings to them who sent you, that his frame
Is real flesh. If, as I deem, to view
His sliade they paused, enough is answer'd them :
Him let them honour : they may prize him well."

Ne'er saw I fiery vapours' with such speed
Cut through the serene air at fall of night.
Nor August's clouds athwart the setting sun,
That upward these did not in shorter space
Return ; and, there arriving, with the rest
Wheel back on us, as with loose rein a troop.

"Many," exclaim'd the bard, "are these, who throng
Around us: to petition thee they come.
Go therefore on, and listen as thou go'st."

" spirit ! who go'st on to blessedness.
With the same limbs that clad thee at thy birth,"
Shouting they came : " a little rest thy step.
Look if thou any one amongst our tribe

' JVe'er saw I fieri/ vapours. — Imitated by Tasso,
"Gierusalemme Liberata," canto xix., st. G2:

"Tal suol fendcndo liquido sereiio
Stella cader della gran niadre in seno."

And by Milton, "Paradise Lost," b. iv. 558:

Swift as a shooting star
In autumn thwarts the night, when vapours fired
Impress the air."

Compare Statins, "Thebais," i. 92: "Ihcet igne Jovis,
lapsisque citatiov astris."

26

THE VISION.

49-

Hast e'er beheld, that tidings of him there'

Thou iiiayst report. Ah, wherefore go'st thou on ?

Ah, wherefore tarriest thou not? We all

By violence died, and to our latest hour

Were sinners, but then warn'd by light from heaven:

So that, repenting and forgiving, we

Did issue out of life at peace with God,

Who, with desire to see him, fills our heart."

Then 1 : " The visages of all I scan.
Yet none of ye remember. But if aught
That I can do may please you, gentle spirits !
Speak, and I will perform it ; by that peace,
Which, on the steps of guide so excellent
Following, from world to w'orld, intent I seek."

In answer he began : " None here distrusts
Thy kindness, though not promised with an oath;
So as the will fail not for want of power.
Whence I, who sole before the others speak,
Entreat thee, if thou ever see that land*
Which lies between Romagna and the realm
Of Charles, that of thy courtesy thou pray
Those who inhabit Fano, that for me
Their adorations duly be put up.
By which I may purge off my grievous sins.
From thence I came.^ But the deep passages,
Whence issued out the blood* wherein I dwelt,
Upon ray bosom in Antenor's land*
Were made, where to be more secure I thought.

' Tliere. — Upon the earth.

' If thou ever see that land. — The Marca d' Ancona,
between Itomagna and Apulia, the kingdom of
Cliarles of Anjou.

' From thence I came. — Giacopo del Cassero, a cit-
jzcn of Fano, who having spoken ill of Azzo da Este,
Marquis of Ferrara, was by his orders put to death.
Giacopo was overtaken by the assassins at Oriaco, a
place near the Brenta, from whence, if he had fled
towards Mira, higher up on that river, instead of

making for the marsh on the sea-shore, he might
have escaped.

' The blood. — Supposed to be the seat of life.

' Antenor's land. — The city of Padua, said to be
founded by Antenor. This implies a reflection on
the Paduans. See"Hell,"xxxii. 89. ThusG. Vil-
lani calls the Venetians "the pei'fidious descendants
from the blood of Antenor, the betrayer of his coun-
try, Troy." — Lib. xi., cap. Ixxxix.

77—104

I'L'KGATOllY.— CAN'IO V.

27

The author of the deed was Este's prince,

Who, more than right could warrant, wiUi his wrath

Pursued me. Had I towards Mira lied,

When overta'en at Oriaco, still

Might I have breathed. But to the marsh I sped ;

And in the mire and rushes tangled there

Fell, and beheld my life-blood lloat the plain."

Then said another : ''Ah ! so may the wish,
That takes thee o'er the mountain, be fulfill'd,
As thou shalt graciously give aid to mine.
Of Montefeltro I ; ' Buonconte I :
. Giovanna** nor none else have care for me;
Sorrowing with these I therefore go." I thus :
"Trom Campaldino's field what force or chance
Drew thee, that ne'er thy sepulture was known?''

" Oh ! " answer'd he, " at Casentino's foot
A stream there courseth, named Archiano, sprung
In Apcnnine above the hermit's seat.^
E'en where its name is cancel'd,^ there came I,
Pierced in the throat,* fleeing away on foot.
And bloodying the plain. Here sight and speech
Eail'd me ; and, finishing with Mary's name,
I fell, and tenantless my flesh remain'd.
I will report the truth ; which thou again
Tell to the living. Me God's angel took,"
Whilst he of hell exclaim'd : ' thou from heaven :
Say wherefore hast thou robb'd me ? Thou of him
The eternal portion bear'st with thee away.

' Of Montefeltro I. — Buonconte (son of Guido da
Montefeltro, whom we have had in the twenty-sev-
entli canto of " Hell") fell in the battle of Campal-
dino (1289), fighting on the side of the Aretini. In
this engagement our poet took a distinguished part,
as we have seen related in his Life. See Fazio degli
XJberti, " Dittamondo," lib. ii., cap. xxix.

" Giovanna. — Either the wife or a kinswoman of
Buonconte.

' The hermit's seat. — The liermitage of Camal-
doli.

' Where its name is canccl'd. — That is, between
Bibbiena and Poppi, where the Archiano falls into
the Arno.

' Throat.— In the former editions it was printed
"heart." Mr. Carlyle has observed the error.

' Me God's angel /oo^.— "Cum autem finem vita
explesset servus l^ei aspiciens vidit diabolum simul
et Angelum ad animam stantem ac unum quemquo
illam sibi tollere festinantem. "—J/fierici Visio, § 18.

28

THE VISION.

105—133

For one poor tear' that he deprives me of.
But of the other, other rule I make.'

" Thou know'st how in the atmosphere collects
That vapour dank, returning into water
Soon as it mounts where cold condenses it.
That evil will," which in his intellect
Still follows evil, came ; and raised the wind
Aud smoky mist, hy virtue of the power
Given by his nature. Thence the valley, soon
As day was spent, he cover'd o'er with cloud.
From Pratomagno to the mountain range ; *
And stretch'd the sky above; so that the air
Impregnate changed to water. Fell the rain ;
And to the fosses came all that the land
Contain'd not ; and, as mightiest streams are wont,
To the great river, with such headlong sweep,
llush'd, that nought stay'd its course. My stiffcn'd frame,
Laid at his mouth, the fell Archiano found.
And dash'd it into Arno ; from my breast
Loosening the cross, that of myself I made
When overcome with pain. He hurl'd me on,
Along the banks and bottom of his course ;
Then in his muddy spoils encircling wrapt."

" Ah ! when thou to the world shalt be return'd.
And rested after thy long road," so spake
Next the third spirit; "then remember me.
I once was Pia.^ Sienna gave me life;
Maremma took it from me. That he knows,
Who me with jewel'd ring had first espoused."

' Fw one jMor tear. — "Visum est quod angelus
Domini lacbrimas quas dives ille . . . fuderat in
ampulla teneret." — Alberici Visio, § 18.

' Thai evil will. — The devil. Lombard i refers ns
to Albertus Magnus" DePotentiaDsemonum." Tliis
notion of the Evil Spirit having power over the ele-
ments, appears to have arisen from his being termed
the "prince of the air" in the New Testament.

' Fro7n Pratomagno to the mountain range. — From
Pratomagno, now called Prato Veccliio (which di-
vides the Valdarno from Casentino), as far as to tlio
Apennine.

' Pia. — She is said to have been a Siennese lady,
of the family of Tolomnici, secretly made away with
by her husband, Nello della Pietra, of the same city,
in Maremma, where he had some possessions.

10

From my breast
Loosening the cross, that of myself I made
When overcome with pain.

Canto v., linen 133-125.

CANTO VI,

ARGUMENT.

Many besides, who are in like case with those spoken of in the last Canto, beseech our Poet to obtain for
them the prayers of their friends, when he shall be returned to this world. This moves him to express
a doubt to his guide, how the dead can be profited by the prayers of the living; for the solution of which
doubt he is referred to Beatrice. Afterwards he meets with Sordello, the Mantuan, whose affection,
shown to Virgil, his countryman, leads Dante to break forth into an invective against the unnatural
divisions with which Italy, and more especially Florence, was distracted.

Y^HEN from their game of dice men separate,
He who hath lost remains in sadness fix'd,
Revolving in his mind' vflisxi luckless throws
He cast : but, meanwhile, all the company
Go with the other; one before him runs,
And one behind his mantle twitches, one
East by his side bids him remember him.
He stops not ; and each one, to whom his hand
Is stretch'd, well knows he bids him stand aside ;
And thus* he from the press defends himself.
E'en such was I in that close-crowding throng ;
And turning so my face around to all,
And promising, I 'scaped from it with pains.
Here of Arezzo him"* I saw, who fell

' Revolving in his mind. —

"Riman dolente
Ripetendo le volte, e triste impara."
Lombardi explains this: "That the loser remains by
himself, and taking up the dice, casts them over
again, as if to learn how he may throw the numbers
he could wish to come up." There is something
very natural in this; but whether the sense can be
fairly deduced from the words is another question.

' And thus. — The late Archdeacon Fisher pointed
out to me a passage in the "Xovela de la Gitanilla"
of Cervantes, ed. Valentia, 1797, p. 13, from which
it appears that it was usual for money to be given to
bystanders at play by winners; and as he well re-

marked: "Dante is therefore describing, with his
usual power of observation, what he had often seen,
the shuffling, boon-denying exit of the successful
gamester."

' Of Arezzo him. — Benincasa of Arezzo, eminent
for his skill in jurisprudence, who, having con-
demned to death Turrino da Turrita, brother of
Ghino di Tacco, for his robberies in Maremma, was
murdered by Ghino, in an a|)artment of his own
house, in the presence of many witnesses. Ghino
was not only suffered to escape in safety, but (as the
commentators inform us) obtained so high a reputa-
tion by the liberality with whicli he was accustomed
to dispense the fruits of his plunder, and treated

29

30

THE VISION.

15—34

By Ghino's cruel arm ; and him beside/

Who in his chase was swallow'd by the stream.

Here Frederic NoveUo,* with his hand

Stretch'd forth, entreated ; and of Pisa he,^

"Who put the good Marzuco to such proof

Of constancy. Count Orso * 1 beheld ;

And from its frame a soul dismiss'd for spite

And envy, as it said, but for no crime;

I speak of Peter de la Brosse : ' and here,

"While she yet lives, that Lady of Brabant,

Let her beware ; lest for so false a deed

She herd with worse than these. When I was freed

From all those spirits, who pray'd for others' prayers

To hasten on their state of blessedness ;

Straight I began : " thou, my luminary

It seems expressly in thy text" denied,

That heaven's supreme decree can ever bend

To supplication : yet with this design

Do these entreat. Can then their hope be vain?

Or is thy saying not to me reveal'd?"

those who fell into his hands with so much courtesy,
that he was afterwards invited to llome, and knight-
ed by Boniface VIII. A story is told of him by
Boccaccio, Giorn. x., Nov. 2.

' Him beside. — Cione, or Ciacco de' Tarlatti of
Arezzo. He is said to have been carried by his horse
into the Arno, and there drowned, while he was in
pursuit of certain of his enemies.

' Frederic Novello. — Son of the Conti Guido da
Battifolle, and slain by one of the family of Bostoli.

' Of Pisa he. — Farinata de' Scornigiani of Pisa.
His father Marzuco, who had entered the order of
the Frati Minori, so entirely overcame the feelings
of resentment, that he even kissed the hands of the
slayer of his son, and, as he was following the funeral,
exhorted his kinsmen to reconciliation. The eigh-
teenth and thirtieth in the collection of Guittone
d' Arezzo's Letters are addressed to Marzuco. The
latter is in verse.

' Count Orso. — Son of Napoleone da Cerbaia, slain
by Alijerto da Mangona, his uncle.

' Peter de la Brosse. — Secretary of Philip III. of
France. The courtiers, envying the high place which

he held in the king's favour, prevailed on Mary of
Brabant to charge him falsely with an attempt upon
her person ; for which supposed crime he suffered
death. So say the Italian commentiitors. Heiiault
represents the matter very differently: "Pierre de la
Brosse, formerly barber to St. Louis, afterwards the
favourite of Philip, fearing the too great attachment
of the king for his wife Mary, accuses this pi-incoss
of having poisoned Louis, eldest son of Philip, by
his first marriage. This calumny is discovered by a
nun of Nivelle in Flanders. La Brosse is hung." —
Ahrey^ Chron., 1275, &c. The Deputati, or those
deputed to write annotations on the "Decameron,"
suppose that Boccaccio, in the Giornata ii., Novella
9, took the story from this passage in Dante, only
concealing the real names and changing the incidents
in some parts, in order not to wound the feelings of
those whom, as it was believed, these incidents had
so lately befallen. Ediz. Giunti, 1573, p. 40.

" In thy text.— lie refers to "Virgil, " JRweiA," lib.
vi. 376:

"Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando."

35— CC

PURGATORY. CANTO VI.

31

He thus to me : " Both what I write is plain,
And these deceived not in their liope ; if well
Thy mind consider, that the sacred height
Of judgment' doth not stoop, because love's flame
In a short moment all fulfills, which ho,
Who sojourns here, in right should satisfy.
Besides, when I this point concluded thus.
By praying no defect could be supplied ;
Because the prayer had none access to God.
Yet in this deep suspicion rest thou not
Contented, unless she assure thee so.
Who betwixt truth and mind infuses light:
I know not if thou take me right ; I mean
Beatrice. Her thou shalt behold above,^
Upon this mountain's crown, fair seat of joy."

Then I : " Sir ! let us mend our speed ; for now
I tire not as before: and lo ! the hilP
Stretches its shadow far." He answer'd thus :
" Our progress with this day shall be as much
As we may now dispatch ; but otherwise
Than thou supposest is the truth. For there
Thou canst not be, ere thou once more behold
Him back returning, who behind the steep
Is now so hidden, that, as erst, his beam
Thou dost not break. But lo ! a spirit there
Stands solitary, and toward us looks :
It will instruct us in the speediest way."

We soon approach'd it. thou Lombard spirit !
How didst thou stand, in high abstracted mood,
Scarce moving with slow dignity thine eyes.
It spoke not auglit, but let us onward pass,
Eyeing us as a lion on his watch.*

' Thesacred heif/Jit of judgment. — So Shakespeare,
"Measure for Measure," act ii., sc. 2:

"If he, which is the top of jadgment."
' Above. — See "Purgatory," c. xxx., v. 32.

• The hill. — It was now past the noon.

* Eyeing us as a linn on liis watch. — "A gnisa ili
leoii quando si posa." A line taken by Tasso, "tJie-
rusalemme Liberata," canto x., st. 5G.

32

THE VISION.

C7— 84

But Virgil, with entreaty mild, advanced,
Requesting it to show the best ascent.
In answer to his question none retuvn'd ;
But of our country and our kind of life
Demanded. When my courteous guide began,
"Mantua," the shadow, in itself absorb'd,*
Rose towards us from the place in which it stood,
And cried, " Mantuan ! I am thy countryman,
Sordcllo."* Each the other then embraced.
Ah, slavish Italy; thou inn of grief !^
Vessel without a pilot in loud storm !
Lady no longer of fair provinces.
But brothel-house impure ! this gentle spirit,
Even from the pleasant sound of his dear land
Was prompt to greet a fellow-citizen
With such glad cheer : while now thy living ones*
In thee abide not without war ; and one
Malicious gnaws another; ay, of those

' Tlie shadow, in iisslf absorb' d. — I had before
translated "the solitary shadow," and have made the
alteration in consequence of Monti's just remark on
the original, that "tutta in se romita" does not mean
"solitary," but "collected, concentrated in itself."
See his "Proposta" under "Komito." Vellutello
had shown him the way to this interpretation, when
he explained the words by "tutta in se raccolta e
sola." Petrai'ch applies the expression to the spirit
of Laura, when departing from the body. See his
"Triumph of Death," cap. i., v. 152.

* Sordello. — Tlie history of Sordello's life is
■wrapped in the obscurity of romance. That he dis-
tinguished himself by his skill in Provengal poetry
is certain; and many feats of military prowess have
been attributed to him. It is probable that he was
born towards the end of the twelfth, and died about
the middle of the succeeding century. Tiraboschi,
who terms him the most illustrious of all the Pro-
venfal poets of his age, has taken much pains to sift
all the notices he could collect relating to him, and
has particularly exposed the fabulous narrative which
Platina has introduced on this subject in his history
of Mantua. Honourable mention of his name is
made by our poet in the treatise " De Vulgari Elo-
quentia," lib. i., cap. 15, where it is said that, re-
markable as he was for eloquence, he deserted the

vernacular language of his own country, not only in
his poems, but in every other kind of writing. Tira-
boschi had at first concluded him to be the same
writer whom Dante elsewhere ("De Vulgari Elo-
quentia," lib. ii., c. 13) calls Gottus Mantuanus, but
afterwards gave up that opinion to the authority of
the Conte d'Arco and the Abate Bettinelli. By Bas-
tero, in his "Crusca Provenzale," ediz. Eoma, 1724,
p. 94, amongst Sordello's MS. poems in the Vatican
are mentioned "Canzoni, Tcnzoni, Cobbole," and
various "Serventesi," particularly one in the form
of a funeral song on the death of Blancas, in which
the poet reprehends all the reigning princes in Chris-
tendom. This last was well suited to attract the
notice of our author. Mention of Sordello will re-
cur in the notes to the "Paradise," c. ix., ver. 32.
Since this notjj was written, many of Sordello's poems
have been brought to light by the industry of M.
Reynouard, in his " Choix des Poesies des Trouba-
dours" and his "Lexiqne Roman."

' Tliou inn of grief.— '■''S' io son d'ogni dolore
ostello e chiave." — Vita Ntiova di Dante, p. 225.

"Thou most beauteous inn.
Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodged in thee?"
Sliukespeare, Richard II., act v., sc. 1.

* Thy living ones. — Compare Milton, "Paradise
Lost," b. ii. 490, &c.

13

'"Salve Eegina," on the grass and flowers,
Here chanting, I beheld those spirits sit,
Who not beyond the valley could be seen.

Catito VII., Unea 83-84.

85—109

PUKGATOUY. — CANTO VI.

33

Whom the same wall and the same moat contains.
Seek, wretched one ! around thy sea-coasts wide ;
Then homeward to thy bosom turn ; and mark,
If any part of thee sweet peace enjoy.
What boots it, that thy reins Justinian's hand'
llefitted, if thy saddle be miprest?
Nought doth he now but aggravate thy shame.
Ah, people ! thou obedient still shouldst live,
And in the saddle let thy Caesar sit,
If well thou marked'st that which God commands.*
Look how that beast to felness hath relapsed,
From having lost correction of the spur,
Since to the bridle thou hast set thine hand,
German Albert ! ^ who abandon'st her
That is 2:rown savao;e and unmana2;eable,
When thou shouldst clasp her flanks with forked heels
Just judgment from the stars fall on thy blood ;
And be it strange and manifest to all ;
Such as may strike thy successor* with dread;
For that thy sire* and thou have suiFer'd thus,
Through greediness of yonder realms detain'd.
The garden of the empire to run waste.
Come, see the Capulets and Montagues,*
The Filippeschi and Monaldi,'' man
Who carest for nought ! those sunk in grief, and these

' Justinian's hand. — "What avails it that Justin-
ian delivered thee from the Goths and reformed thy
laws, if thou art no longer under the control of his
successors in the empire ?"

" That which God commands. — He alludes to the
precept, "Render unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's."

' German Albert ! — The Emperor Albert I. suc-
ceeded Adolphus in 1298, and was murdered in 1308.
See "Paradise," canto xix. 114.

' Thy successor. — The successor of Albert was
Henry of Luxemburgh, by whose interposition in
the ailairs of Italy our poet hoped to have been
reinstated in his native city.

* Thy sire. — The Emperor Rodolph, too intent

on increasing Ins power in Germany to give much
of his tlioughts to Itiily, "the garden of the empire."

' Capulets and Muntagues. — Our ears are so famil-
iarised to tlie names of these rival houses in the lan-
guage of Shakespeare, that I have used them instead
of the " Montecchi" and "Capi)elletti." They were
two powerful Ghibellinc families of Verona. In some
parts of that play of wliicli they form the leading
characters, our great dramatic poet seems to have
been not a little indebted to tlie "Hadriana" of Luigi
Groto, commonly called "II cieco d'Adria." See
AValker's "Historical Memoir on Itali.m Tragedy,"
4to, 1799, § i., p. 49.

' Filippeschi and Monaldi. — Two other rival fam-
ilies in Orvieto.

34

THE VISION.

110— 13j

"With dire suspicion rack'd. Como, cruel one!

Come, and behold tlie oppression of the nobles,

And mark their injuries ; and thou mayst see

"What safety Santafiore can supply.'

Come and behold thy liome," who calls on thee

Desolate widow, day and night with moans,

"My Caesar, why dost thou desert my side?"

Come, and behold what love among thy people :

And if no pity touches thee for us,

Come, and blush for thine own report. For me,

If it be lawful, Almighty Power !

"Who wast in earth for our sakes crucified,

Are thy just eyes turn'd elsewhere? or is this

A preparation, in the wondrous depth

Of thy sage counsel made, for some good end.

Entirely from our reach of thought cut off?

So are the Italian cities all o'erthrong'd

With tyrants, and a great Marcellus^ made

Of every petty factious villager.

My Florence! thou mayst well remain unmoved
At this digression, which affects not thee;
Thanks to thy people, who so wisely speed.
Many have justice in their heart, that long
Waiteth for counsel to direct the bow.
Or ere it dart unto its aim : but thine
Have it on their lip's edge. Many refuse*

' What safety Santafiore can supply. — A place be-
tween Pisa and Sienna. What he alludes to is so
doubtful, that it is not certain whether we should
not read "come si cura" ("how Santafiore is gov-
erned"). Perhaps the event related in the note to
V. 58, canto xi., may be pointed at.

' Come and behold tliy Rome. — Thus in the Tjatin
Epistle to the Cardinals, which has been lately dis-
covered in the Laurentian library, and has every ap-
pearance of being Dante's: "Romam urbem, nunc
utroque lumine destitutam, nunc Hannibali nedum
aliis miserandam, solam sedentem et viduam, prout
superius proclamatur, qualis est, pro modulo nostras
imaginis, ante mortales oculos affigatis omnes." —

Opere minori di Dante, torn, iii., parte ii., p. 270,
12mo, Fir., 1840.

' Marcellus. —

"Un Marcel diventa
Ogni villan die parteggiando viene."
llepeatod by AlamauTii in his "Coltivazione," lib. i.
He probably means the Marcellus who opposed Ju-
lius Caesar.

* Many refuse. — He appears to have been of Pla-
to's mind, that in a commonwealth of worthy men,
place and power would be as much declined as they
are now sought after and coveted: mvivveiiet ni'/^c

avfipuv ayaBuv it ycvoiTo, irtpifiaxiTov av elvat To fit/ apx^iv,
uanep vvv rd apx^tv. XloXiT. LAh. A.

1 30— 153

PURGATORY. CANTO VI.

35

To bear the common burdens : readier thine
Answer uncall'd, and cry, "Behold I stoop!"

Make thyself glad, for thou hast reason now,
Thou wealthy ! thou at peace ! thou wisdom-fraught !
Facts best will witness if I speak the truth.
Athens and Lacedsemon, who of old
Enacted laws, for civil arts renown'd.
Made little progress in improving life
Towards thee, who usest such nice subtlety,
That to the middle of November scarce
lleaches the thread thou in October weavest.
How many times within thy memory.
Customs, and laws, and coins, and offices
Have been by thee renew'd, and people changed.

If thou remember'st well and canst see clear,
Thou wilt perceive thyself like a sick wretch,'
Who finds no rest upon her down, but oft
Shifting her side, short respite seeks from pain.

' A sick wretch. — Imitated by the Cardinal de
Polignac;

"Ceu lectum peragrat membris languentibus agger,
In latus altenie laevum dextrumque recumbens:

Nee jiivat: inde oculos tollit resupinus in altum:
Nusqiiam inventa quies; semper qusesita: quod illi
Primiim indeliciis fuerat, mox torquet et angit:
Nee morbum sanat, nee fallit taedia morbi."

Anti-Lucretius, lib. i. 1052.

CANTO VII.

ARGUMENT.

The approach of night hindering further ascent, Sordello conducts our Poet apart to an eminence, from
whence they behold a pleasant recess, in form of a flowery valley, scooped out of the mountain; where
are many famous spirits, and among them the Emperor Rodolph, Ottocar, King of Bohemia, Philip III.
of France, Henry of Navarre, Peter HI. of Arragon, Charles I. of Naples, Henry HI. of England, and
William, Marquis of Montferrat.

A FTER their courteous greetings joyfully

Seven times exchanged, Sordello backward drew
Exclaiming, " Who are ye ? " — " Before this mount
By spirits worthy of ascent to God
Was sought, my bones had by Octavius' care
Been buried. I am Virgil ; for no sin
Deprived of heaven, except for lack of faith."
So answer'd him in few my gentle guide.

As one, who aught before him suddenly
Beholding, whence his wonder riseth, cries,
" It is, yet is not," wavering in belief;
Such he appear'd ; then downward bent his eyes.
And, .drawing near with reverential step,
Caught him, where one of mean estate might clasp
His lord.' " Glory of Latium ! " he exclaim'd,
" In whom our tongue its utmost power display'd ;
Boast of my honour'd birth-place ! what desert*
Of mine, what favour, rather, undeserved.
Shows thee to me? If I to hear that voice
Am worthy, say if from below thou comest,

' Where one of mean estate might clasp his lord. —
So Ariosto, "Orlando Furioso," c. xxiv., st. 19:
"E I'abbraceiaro, ove il maggior s'abbraccia.
Col capo nudo e col ginocchio cliino."
36

What desert. — So Frezzi:
"Qual grazia, o qual destin m' hafattodegno
Che io ti veggia."

II Quadriregio, lib. iv., cap. 9.

>1— 51

PL'RGATORY, — CANTO VII.

37

And from what cloister's pale," — "Throuf^h every orb

Of that sad region," he replied, " thus far

Am I arrived, by heavenly inlluence led :

And with such aid I come. Not for my doing/

But for not doing, have I lost the sight

Of that high Sun, whom thou desirest, and who

By me too late was known. There is a place*

There underneath, not made by torments sad,

But by dun shades alone; where mourning's voice

Sounds not of anguish sharp, but breathes in sighs.

There I with little innocents abide,

Who by death's fangs were bitten, ere exempt

From human taint. There I with those abide,

Who the three holy virtues^ put not on,

But understood the rest,^ and without blame

FoUow'd them all. But, if thou know'st, and canst,

Direct us how we soonest may arrive,

Where Purgatory its true beginning takes."

He answer'd thus : " We have no certain place
Assign'd us : upwards I may go, or round.
Far as I can, I join thee for thy guide.
But thou beholdest now how day declines;
And upwards to proceed by night, our power
Excels : therefore it may be well to choose
A place of pleasant sojourn. To the right
Some spirits sit apart retired. ]f thou
Consentest, I to these will lead thy steps :
And thou wilt know them, not without delight."

''How chances this?" was answer'd: "whoso wish'd
To ascend by night, would he be thence debarr'd
By other, or through his own w-eakness fail?"

' Not for viy doing. — I am indebted to the kind-
ness of Mr. Lyell for pointing out to me that three
lines of the original were here omitted in the former
editions of this translation.

' There is a place. — Limbo. See" Hell," c. iv. 24.

The three holy virtues. — Faith, Hope, and
Charity.

' The rest. — Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and
Temperance.

38

THE VISION.

52—70

The good Sordello then along the ground
Trailing his finger, spoke : " Only this line '
Thou shalt not overpass, soon as the sun
Hath disappear'd ; not that aught else impedes
Thy going upwards, save the shades of night.
These, with the want of power, perplex the will.
With them thou haply mightst return heneath.
Or to and fro around the mountain's side
"Wander, while day is in the horizon shut."

My master straight, as wondering at his speech,
Exclaim'd : " Then lead us quickly, where thou sayst
That, while we stay, we may enjoy delight."

A little space we were removed from thence,
When I perceived the mountain hoUow'd out,
Even as large valleys^ hollow'd out on earth.

"That way," the escorting spirit cried, "we go,
Where in a bosom the high bank recedes :
And thou await renewal of the day."

Betwixt the steep and plain, a crooked path
Led us traverse into the ridge's side,
Where more than half the sloping edge expires.
Refulgent gold, and silver thrice refined,
And scarlet grain and ceruse, Indian wood^
Of lucid dye serene, fresh emeralds^
But newly broken, by the herbs and flowers

' Only this line. — ^" Walk while ye have the light,
lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh
in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." — John
xii. 35.

' As large valleys. — "Viatores enim per viam rcc-
tam dum ambulant, campum juxta viam cementes
spatiosum et pulchrum, oblitiquc itineris, dicunt in-
tra se. Iter per campum istum faciamus," &c. — Al-
berici Visio, § 28.

• Indian wood. —

"Indico legno lucido e serene."

It is a little uncertain what is meant by this. Indigo,
although it is extracted from a herb, seems the most

likely. Monti, in his " Proposta," maintains it to be
ebony.

' Fresh emeralds. —

"Under foot the violet,
Crocus, and hyacinth with rich inlay
Broider'd the ground, more colour'd than with stone
Of costliest emblem."

Milton, Paradise Lost, b. iv. 703.
"Zaflfir, rubini, oro, topazj, e perle,
E diamanti, e crisoliti e giacinti
Potriano i fiori assimigliar, che per le
Liete piagge v'avea I'aura dijjinti;
Si verdi I'erbe, che potendo averle
Qua giu ne foran gli smeraldi vinti."
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, c. xxxiv., st. 49.

-103

PUIIGATOKY. — CANTO VII.

39

Placed ill that fair recess, in colour all
Had been surpassed, as great surpasses less.
Nor nature only there lavish'd her hues,
But of the sweetness ' of a thousand smells
A rare and undistinguish'd fragrance made.

"Salve Eegina,"^ on the grass and flowers,
Here chanting, I beheld those spirits sit.
Who not beyond the valley could be seen.

" Before the westering sun sink to his bed,"
Began the Mantuan, who our steps had turn'd,
" 'Mid those, desire not that I lead ye on.
For from this eminence ye shall discern
Better the acts and visages of all,
Than, in the nether vale, among them mix'd.
He, who sits high above the rest, and seems
To have neglected that he should have done,
And to the others' song moves not his lip,
The Emperor llodolph* call, who might have heal'd
The wounds whereof fair Italy hath died,
So that by others she revives but slowly.
He, who with kindly visage comforts him,
Sway'd in that country,* w'here the water springs,
That Moldaw's river to the Elbe, and Elbe
Rolls to the ocean : Ottocar* his name :
Who in his swaddUng clothes was of more worth
Than Winceslaus his son, a bearded man,
Pamper'd with rank luxuriousness and ease.

' The sweetness. —

"E quella ai fiori, ai pomi, e alia Terzura
Gli odor diversi depredando giva,
E di tutti faceva una mistura,
Che di soavita I'alma notriva." — Ibid., st. 51.
' Salve Regina. — The beginning of a prayer to the
Virgin. It is sufficient here to observe, that in sim-
ilar instances I shall either preserve the original
Latin words or translate them, as it may seem best
to suit the purpose of the verse.

* The Emperor Rodolph.-
104. He died in 1291.

-See the last canto, v.

* That country. — -Bohemia.

' Ottocar. — King of Bohemia, who was killed in
the battle of Marchfield, fought with Rodolph, Au-
gust 26, 1278. Winceslaus II., his son, who suc-
ceeded him in the khigdom of Bohemia, died in 1305.
The latter is again taxed with luxury in the "Para-
dise," xix. 123.

40

THE VISION.

104— ]•;!

And that one with the nose deprest/ who close

In counsel seems with hiui of gentle look,^

Flyiuf; expired, withering the lily's flower.

Look there, how he doth knock against his hreast.

The other ye behold, who for his cheek

Makes of one hand a couch, with frequent sighs.

They are the father and the father-in-law

Of Gallia's bane :' his vicious life they know

And foul ; thence comes the grief that rends them thus.

" He, so robust of limb,* who measure keeps
In song with him of feature prominent,'^
With every virtue bore his girdle braced.
And if that stripling," who behind him sits.
King after him had lived, his virtue then
From vessel to like vessel had been pour'd ;
Which may not of the other heirs be said.
By James and Frederick'' his realms are held;
Neither the better heritage obtains.

' That one with the nose deprest. — Philip III. of
France, father of Philip IV". He died in 1285, at
Perpignan, in liis retreat from Arragou.

' Him of gentle look. — Henry of Navarre, father
of Jane, married to Philip IV. of France, whom
Dante calls "mal di Francia" — ^" Gallia's bane."

* Gallia's bane. — G. Villani, lib. vii., cap. cxlvi.,
speaks with equal resentment of Philip IV.: "In
1291, on the night of the calends of May, Philip le
Kel, King of France, by advice of Biccio and Mus-
ciatto Franzesi, ordered all the Italians, who were
in his country and realm, to be seized, under pre-
tence of seizing the money-lenders, but thus he
caused the good merchants also to be seized and
ransomed, for which he was much blamed and held
in great abhorrence; and from thenceforth the realm
of France fell evermore into degradation and decline.
And it is observable, that between the taking of
Acre and this seizure in France, the merchants of
Florence received great damage and ruin of their
property."

' He, so robust of limb.— Feter III., called the
Great, King of Arragon, who died in 1285, leaving
four sons, Alonzo, James, Frederick, and Peter. The
two former succeeded him in the kingdom of Arra-
gon, and Frederick in that of Sicily. See G. Vil-

lani, lib. vii., cap. cii.; and Mariana, lib. xiv., cap.
9. He is enumerated among the Provencal poets
by Millet, "Histoire Litteraire des Troubadours,"
torn, iii., p. 150.

' Him of feature prominent. — "Dal maschio naso"
("with the masculine nose"). Charles I., King of
Naples, Count of Anjou, and brother of St. Louis.
He died in 1284. The annalist of Florence remarks
that " there had been no sovereign of the house of
France since the time of Charlemagne, by whom
Charles was surpassed either in military renoAvn and
prowess, or in the loftiness of his understanding"
(G. Villani, lib. vii., cap. xciv.). We shall, how-
ever, find many of his actions severely reprobated in
the twentieth canto.

' That stripling. — Either (as the old commenta-
tors suppose) Alonzo III., King of Arragon, the
eldest son of Peter III., who died in 1291, at the age
of twenty-seven; or, according to Venturi, Peter,
the youngest son. The former was a young prince
of virtue, sufficient to have justified the eulogium
and the hopes of Dante. See Mariana, lib. xiv.,
cap. 14.

' By James and Frederick.-
112.

-See note to canto iii.

11

" Then remember me.

1 once was Pia."

Canto v., lines 130, 131.

"Through every orb
Of that sad region," he replied, "thus far
Am I arrived."

Caiito VII., lines 21-23.

122—138

PURGATORY. CANTO VII.

il

Rarely * into the branches of the tree

Doth human worth mount up : and so ordains

lie who bestows it, that as his free gift

It may be call'd. To Charles* my words apply

No less than to his brother in the song ;

Which Pouille and Provence now with grief confess.

So much that plant degenerates from its seed,

As, more than Beatrix and Margaret,

Costanza'' still boasts of her valorous spouse.

"Behold the king of simple Hfe . and plain,
Harry of England^ sitting there alone:
He through his branches better issue' spreads.

" That one, who, on the ground, beneath the rest.
Sits lowest, yet his gaze directs aloft.
Is "William, that brave Marquis,® for whose cause,
The deed of Alexandria and his war
Makes Montferrat and Canavese weep."

' Rarely. —

"Full well can the wise poet of Florence,
That hight Dantes, speake in this sentence;
Lo! in such manner rime is Dantes tale.
Full selde upriseth by his branches smale
Prowesse of maTi, for God of his goodnesse
AVoU that we claim of him our gentlenesse:
For of our elders may we nothing claime
But temporal thing, that men may hurt and
maime."

Cliaucer, Wife of Bathe's Tale.

Compare Homer, "Odyssey," b. ii., v. 376; Pindar,
"Nem.," xi. 48; and Euripides, "Electra," 309.

' To Charles.—'' Al Nasuto"—" Charles II., King
of Naples, is no less inferior to his father Charles I.
than .James and Frederick to theirs, Peter III." See
canto XX. 78, and "Paradise," canto xix. 125.

' Costanza. — Widow of Peter III. She has been
already mentioned in the third canto, v. 112. By
Beatrix and Margaret are probably meant two of
the daughters of Raymond Berenger, Count of
Provence; the latter married to St. Louis of France,
the former to his brother Charles of Anjou, King
of Naples. See "Paradise," canto vi. 135. Dante

therefore considers Peter as the most illustrious of
the three monarchs.

* Harry of England. — Henry III. The contem-
porary annalist speaks of this king in similar terms.
G. Villani, lib. v., cap. iv. : "From Richard was bom
Henry, who reigned after him, who was a plain man
and of good faith, but of little courage." Fazio degli
Uberti, "Dittamondo," 1. iv., cap. xxv., where he
gives the characters of our Norman kings, speaks
less respectfully of Henry. Capitoli xxiii. — xxv.,
lib. iv. of this neglected poem appear to deserve the
notice of our antiquarians.

• Better issue. — Edward I., of whose glory our poet
was perhaps a witness, in his visit to England : " From
the said Henry was born the good king Edward, who
reigns in our times, who has done great things,
whereof we shall make mention in due place." — G.
Villani, ibid.

' William, that brave Marquis. — William, Marquis
of Montferrat, was treacherously seized by his own
subjects, at Alessandria in Lombardi, a.d. 1290, and
ended his life in prison. See G. Villani, lib. vii.,
cap. cxxxv. A war ensued between the people of
Alessandria and those of Montferrat and the Cana-
vese, now a part of Piedmont.

CANTO VIII.

ARGUMENT.

Two angels, with flaming swords broken at the points, descend to keep watch over the valley, into which Virgil
and Dante entering by desire of Sordello, our Poet meets with joy the spirit of Nino, the Judge of
Gallura, one who was well known to him. Meantime three exceedingly bright stars appear near the
pole, and a sequent creeps subtly into the valley, but flees at hearing the approach of those angelic
guards. Lastly, Conrad Malaspina predicts to our Poet his future banishment.

AIOW was the hour that wakens fond desire

In men at sea, and melts their thoughtful heart

Who in the morn have bid sweet friends farewell,

And pilgrim newly on his road with love

Thrills, if he hear the vesper bell from far^

That seems to mourn for the expiring day :'

When I, no longer taking heed to hear.

Began, with wonder, from those spirits to mark

One risen from its seat, which with its hand

Audience implored. Both palms it join'd and raised.

Fixing its stedfast gaze toward the east,

As telling God, " I care for nought beside."
"Te Lucis Ante,"^ so devoutly then

Came from its lip, and in so soft a strain.

That all my sense ^ in ravishment was lost.

And the rest after, softly and devout.

' Hear the vesper hell from far. —

"I hear the far-off curfeu sound."

Milton's Penseroso.
' That seems to motimfor the expiring day. —
"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day."

Gray's Elegy.
"Giomo — che si muore"
is from Statius: "Jam moriente die."

Sylv(B, 1. iv. 6. 3.
43

• Te Lucis ^w<e.—"Te lucis ante termmum,
Lombardi, is the first verse of the hymn sung by the
church in the last part of the sacred office termed
compieta, a service which our Chaucer calls "com-
plin."

' All my sense. —

"Fece me a me uscir di mente.
Me surpuerat milii."

Horat., Carm., lib. iv., od. 13.

17—40

PURGATORY. — CANTO VIII.

43

FoUow'd through all the hymn, with upward gaze
Directed to the bright supernal wheels.

Here, reader ! ' for the truth make thine eyes keen
For of so subtle texture is this veil,
That thou with ease mayst pass it through unmark'd.

I saw tbat gentle band silently next
Look up, as if in expectation held.
Pale and in lowly guise ; and, from on high,
I saw, forth issuing descend beneath,
Two angels, with two flame-illumined swords,
Broken and mutilated of their points.
Green as the tender leaves but newly born.
Their vesture was, the which, by wings as green
Beaten, they drew behind them, fann'd in air.
A little over us one took his stand ;
The other lighted on the opposing hill ;
So that the troop were in the midst contain'd.

Well I descried the whiteness on their heads ;
But in their visages the dazzled eye
Was lost, as faculty' that by too much
Is overpower'd. "From Mary's bosom both
Are come," exclaim'd Sordello, " as a guard.
Over the vale, 'gainst him, who hither tends,

' Here, reader! — Lombardi's explanation of this
passage, by which the commentators have been much
perplexed, though it may be thought rather too sub-
tle and fine-spun, like the veil itself spoken of in the
text, cannot be denied the praise of extraordinary
ingenuity. "This admonition of tlie poet to his
reader," he observes, "seems to relate to what has
been before said, that these spirits snng the whole
of the hymn ' Te lucis ante terminum ' throughout,
even that second strophe of it: —
' Procul recedant somnia,
Et noctium phantasmata,
Hostemque nostrum comprime,
Ne polluantur corpora; '
and he must imply that these souls, being incorpo-
real, did not offer up this petition on their own ac-
count, but on ours, who are yet in this world, as he
afterwards makes those other spirits, who repeat the

' Pater Noster,' expressly declare, when after that
prayer they add —

' This last petition, dearest Lord! is made
Not for ourselves,' &c. Canto xi.

As, therefore, if we look through a very fine veil,
the sight easily passes on, without perceiving it, to
objects that lie on the other side, so here the poet
fears that our mind's eye may insensibly pass on to
contemplate these spirits, as if they were praying for
the relief of their own wants; without discovering
the veil of our wants, with which they invest them-
selves in the act of offering np this prayer."
' As faculty. —
" My earthly by his heavenly overjwwer'd

As with an object, that excels the sense.
Dazzled and spent."

Milton, Paradise Lost, b. viii. 457.

44

THE VISION.

40—71

The serpent." Whence, not knowing by which path
He came, I turn'd me round; and closely press'd,
All frozen, to my leader's trusted side.

Bordello paused not : " To the valley now
(For it is time) let us descend ; and hold
Converse with those great shadows : haply much
Their sight may please ye." Only three steps down
Methinks I measured, ere I was beneath,
And noted one who look'd as with desire
To know me. Time was now that air grew dim ;
Yet not so dim, that, 'twixt his eyes and mine.
It clear'd not up what was conceal'd before.
Mutually towards each other we advanced.
Nino, thou courteous judge !^ what joy I felt.
When I perceived thou wert not with the bad.

No salutation kind on either part
Was left unsaid. He then inquired : " How long,
Since thou arrived'st at the mountain's foot,
Over the distant waves?" — "Oh!" answer'd I,
" Through the sad seats of woe this morn 1 came ;
And still in my first life, thus journeying on,
The other strive to gain." Soon as they heard
My words, he and Sordello backward drew.
As suddenly amazed. To Virgil one,
The other to a spirit turn'd, who near
Was seated, crying : " Conrad ! ^ up with speed :
Come, see what of his grace high God hath willed."
Then turning round to me : " By that rare mark
Of honour, which thou owest to him, who hides
So deeply his first cause it hath no ford ;
When thou shalt be beyond the vast of waves,
Tell my Giovanna,^ that for me she call

' Nino, thou courteous judge. — Nino di Gallnra
de' Visconti, nephew to Count Ugolino de' Gherar-
deschi, and betrayed by him. See notes to "Hell,"
canto xxxiii.

• Conrad. — Currado, father to Marcello Malaspina.

• My Giovcmna.— The daughter of Nino, and wife
of Riccardo da Camino of Trevigi, concerning whom
see " Paradise," c. ix. 48.

72—92

PURGATOKY. CANTO VIII.

45

There, where reply to innocence is made.

Her mother,' 1 believe, loves me no more;

Since she has changed the white and wimpled folds,*

Which she is doom'd once more with grief to wish.

By her it easily may be perceived.

How long in woman lasts the flame of love,

If sight and touch do not relume it oft.

For her so fair a burial will not make

The viper,^ which calls Milan to the field.

As had been made by shrill Gallura's bird."*

He spoke, and in his visage took the stamp
Of that right zeal, which with due temperature
Glows in the bosom. My insatiate eyes
Meanwhile to heaven had travel'd, even there
Where the bright stars are slowest, as a wheel
Nearest the axle ; when my guide inquired :
"What there aloft, my son, has caught thy gaze?"

I answered : " The three torches,^ with which here
The pole is all on fire." He then to me :
" The four resplendent stars, thou saw'st this morn,
Are there beneath ; and these, risen in their stead."

' Her mother. — Beatrice, Marcliioness of Este, wife
of Nino, and after his death married to Galeazzo
de' Visconti of Milan. It is remarked by Lombardi
that the time which Dante assigns to this journey,
and consequently to this colloquy with Nino Vis-
conti — the beginning, that is, of April — is prior to
the time which Bernardino Corio, in his history of
Milan, part the second, fixes for the nuptials of Bea-
trice with Galeazzo; for he records her having been
betrothed to tliat prince after the I\Iay of this year
(1300), and her having been solemnly espoused at
Modena on the 29th of June. Besides, however,
the greater credit due to Dante, on account of his
having lived at the time when these events liappened,
another circumstance in his favour is the discrepan-
cy remarked by Giovambatista Girakli ("Commen-
tar. delle cose di Ferrara") in those writers by whom
the history of Beatrice's life has been recorded.
Nothing can sot the general accuracy of our